Expectation
by That Nanda
Summary: Kagome is acting strangely, and everyone except Inuyasha seems to know why. Work in progress...
1. Chapter 1

Expectation

He didn't understand what had gone wrong. Things had been wonderful at first. He and Kagome had agreed not to tell the others about their tryst, and had left the forest separately. Kagome had left first, claiming that she had not found Inuyasha the night before, and had wandered the forest lost until she had found her way back to the village around dawn. This also adequately explained why her clothes were torn and dirty, and why her hair was full of brambles. It was a good excuse, but it didn't prevent Shippou and Myoga from smelling the hanyou's heavy scent that still clung to her. And though Miroku and Sango lacked the sensitive noses of the two youkai, they easily guessed what had actually transpired by the tone of Kagome's voice, and the many gulps and blushes that accompanied her tale. Their suspicions were confirmed when Inuyasha returned to the village later that day and insisted on speaking to Kagome in 'private', private being a few miles out of earshot, back in the forest. Still, to spare their friends of any awkward feelings or embarrassment, Miroku and Sango said nothing, but smiled and gave each other sideways glances from time to time. 

Things had carried on like that that for several weeks, and they were some of the happiest weeks of his adult life. He and Kagome had continued to sneak around, trying to hide the new element in their relationship from the others, and the others had gone on pretending that they didn't know exactly what was going on between the two of them. 

Then one day, several weeks ago, something had happened. Kagome had gone home for a few days, and when she came back, she had changed, somehow. Her scent had changed. Well, maybe not CHANGED, but it had…shifted, slightly. Something was different about it, and about Kagome in general, because it wasn't only her scent that had changed. At first, the difference was slight; she became upset more easily, and little things seemed to irritate her more and more. He had probably been 'sat' more times in the last few weeks than in the entire time that he'd known her. Then she had started avoiding him. When he would find or create opportunities to be alone with her, she would suddenly remember an errand that she had to do, or something that she had forgotten to tell someone, and run off. He began to wonder if she was mating with someone else. He started spending his days following her, silently watching her actions from the treetops. It was on one such day that he discovered the stick. He had found it in a small patch of bushes that she frequented daily. It was small and white, and made from a material that he had never seen before, so it was obviously from Kagome's time. What confused him, however, was the fact that it smelled strongly of Kagome's urine. For the life of him he could not fathom why Kagome would have peed on a stick. But by that point, it was just another notch in a long list of strange events. She was moody, had stopped sleeping with him, she was going home less and less often, and the worst, the one that irked him the most, was that she had started wearing miko's robes like Kikyo's. It infuriated him. He liked Kagome the way she was, and the last thing he wanted was to see her as a constant reminder of his first love. It was bad enough that she looked so much like Kikyo to begin with, but to see her wearing the very robes that Kikyo had worn unnerved him. Then there was the fact that he had liked the tight blouses and the short skirts that she normally wore. He had found the curve of her breasts, and the flash of thigh (and occasionally panties, when the wind blew hard enough) he got when she wore them to be very alluring. In the baggy miko's robes, he could barely see the shape of her body. Her soft, supple body…

"Inuyasha!" Kagome's voice interrupted his thoughts, bringing him back to earth. He looked down at the girl he was mated to from the high branches of the tree he was sitting in. Normally, this would have been the occasion for some friendly banter; little insults flung on either side that had been rendered meaningless by their new found feelings for one another. But with her recent change in temperament, he found it infinitely safer to be straightforward with her. So instead of teasing her with a well-intentioned 'What the hell do you want, woman?' he answered:

"Yes? What is it?" Rolling her eyes at him, Kagome sighed audibly and clicked her tongue against her teeth in disgust, a sound that went through him like Sesshoumaru's poison claws. Diplomacy obviously wasn't going to work with her today. 

"I thought you had an excellent sense of smell!" she said testily. "Lunch is ready, mighty hanyou, so you'd better come down here with the rest of us lowly humans if you want to eat." He recognized the warning tone in her voice immediately, having become quite familiar with it as of late. He knew that if he didn't come down on his own, and very quickly, she would bring him down instead. 

"I'm coming down!" he called, dropping off the branch and landing solidly on the ground beside her. Kagome took a step back, startled by his abruptness.

"Watch it!" she exclaimed, frowning at him. "You almost knocked me over!"

"What? I didn't come anywhere near you!" he protested. He hadn't raised his voice, but Kagome's lip began to tremble anyway. She bit down on it as tears began to roll down her cheeks. 

"OSUWARI!" she cried, and ran off sobbing into some nearby bushes. Prostrate on the ground where she'd left him, Inuyasha started banging his head into the earth. 

"WHAAAAT??" he moaned loudly. "What did I do now?" 

When the spell had worn off, Inuyasha peeled himself off the ground and followed his nose to Kaede's hut. He pulled back the reed curtain at the hut's entrance to reveal Miroku sitting alone, eating. Inuyasha sighed, taking his place to the right of the monk. 

"Where is everybody?" he asked.

"Shippou and Kirara have already eaten and are playing some game that I can't remember the name of at the moment, and Kaede is assisting as midwife to a birth." At this last part, he gave Inuyasha a pointed look. Inuyasha, completely oblivious, picked a fish off of the stick above the cooking fire and began to eat it, more out of habit than any real hunger or enthusiasm. He was very tired of fish. 

"Where's Sango?" he said with his mouth full, licking fish grease off of his thumb.

"She went to fetch Kagome," Miroku said between sips of tea, "who apparently is very upset."

"Keh. How would you notice?" Inuyasha snorted.

"YOU are very insensitive." the monk said simply, and refused to elaborate.

"Whatever." Inuyasha sighed, rubbing his sore back. "I already get enough abuse from her, I don't need to hear it from you." Miroku raised one eyebrow in Inuyasha's direction, but said nothing, and merely sipped tea from his cup. Minutes later, Sango returned with a puffy-eyed Kagome in tow. The two girls sat opposite from the men, as if not wanting to get too close, and took their share the meal. Inuyasha avoided Kagome's eyes, pretending that he found his fingers far more interesting. They ate in uncomfortable silence, occasionally broken by a belch from Inuyasha or a sniffle from Kagome. That is, until Inuyasha bit down on a thin sliver of fishbone and got it lodged painfully in his gums. 

"Aargh!" he grunted. "Shit!" he spat, pulling it out. The edge of the bone was stained crimson, and a tiny drop of blood rolled down one canine and fell onto his hand. 

"Stupid fish!" he yelled. "I'm so sick of fish!"

"Well what would you prefer, your highness?" Kagome retorted, hands on her hips, staring him down. Beyond frustration, Inuyasha took the bait. 

"Why don't you go back to your own time and bring us some real food?!" he barked at her. "Instant noodles don't bite!" Then, for what seemed like the one millionth time that day, Kagome burst into tears.

"I can't go home!" she shrieked at him, jumping to her feet. "I've shamed my family! I can never go home again!" She ran past him and out the door, knocking him over and ripping the reed curtain from the doorframe in the process.

"I'll fix that." Miroku said, inclining his head slightly toward the door. Then he turned to Inuyasha and said, "You, however, had better go fix that!" and pointed him out the door. 

"What do you expect me to do?" Inuyasha yelled. "Every time I open my mouth she runs off crying! And I don't feel like eating any more dirt today, alright?" 

"You are an idiot." Miroku said simply, but again, refused to elaborate. Fortunately, Sango felt that they had all suffered enough.

"Inuyasha," Sango said gently, touching the sleeve of his haori, "Kagome…Kagome isn't feeling well." Despite his anger, Inuyasha seemed effected by this news. 

"Is Kagome sick?" he asked, a hint of concern dropping into his voice. 

"In a manner of speaking," Sango said hesitantly, "but it isn't for me to say. What I do know is that she needs to hear a kind word from you. She needs some…reassurance."

"SHE does!? What about me!" he fumed, some of his anger returning. "She's the one who's acting weird."

"She's acting strangely because she's frightened. But you really need to talk to HER…" Sango persisted.

"Frightened? Is she really THAT sick? She should be in bed!" Inuyasha exclaimed, his concern now fully apparent. 

"That's what got her into trouble in the first place- " Miroku said wryly. Sango silenced him with a kick to the shin.

"Ouch!"

"She's not really sick!" Sango said quickly, beginning to get flustered. "She's just…not herself. Please, Inuyasha…?" she implored.

"Fine! Alright, I'll go." he said reluctantly. "But you might want to prepare some cold compresses for when I get back, I'll probably need them…" he muttered, his voice fading as he skulked away, following Kagome's scent. The two humans let out an audible sigh of relief once Inuyasha was out of earshot. 

"Are you certain we shouldn't follow him?" Miroku asked. "This is bound to prove interesting." Sango shot him an evil look.

"Have some decency!" she scolded. "For Kagome-chan's sake if nothing else!" At that moment, Shippou and Kirara came bounding into the hut, playfully chasing one another. They stopped at the feet of the demon exterminator and looked up at her and the houshi. 

"Did we miss anything?" he asked innocently.

"NO!" the two humans chorused.

"Nothing important." Sango added, trying to ignore the unease that clutched at her heart, but unable to ignore the hand that suddenly clutched at her bottom.

*SMACK*

"No, I guess I haven't missed anything important." Shippou said with a sigh, shaking his head at the momentarily stunned monk. "Just business as usual." 


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

When Inuyasha finally came across Kagome, she was sitting on the lip of the well, the one and only portal that lead back to her own time, crying as if she'd lost her entire family. He approached her slowly, not unreasonably fearful that if he startled her, he would find himself kissing the ground. 

"Kagome…" he called softly, approaching with his hands held out in front of him defensively, in a gesture reminiscent of how one might approach a pit viper. She gasped at the sound of his voice, looking up from her hands. She honestly hadn't expected him to follow after her, even if deep down she had secretly hoped that he would. She had been such an emotional wreck over the last few weeks that he had eventually stopped coming after her when she had her outbursts. There had been just too many of them, compounded by the fact that she would never explain to him what was going on with her anyway. And yet there he was, walking up to her, wearing a concerned expression upon his face, sitting down beside her on the lip of the well, putting his arm around her shoulders…that sweet, caring… possessive, selfish, insensitive prick! 

"Leave me alone!" she sobbed, shoving him off the seat with all of her strength. He fell the two feet from the lip of the well to the grass, landing on his backside with an audible "UF!" Struggling to maintain a hold on his rising temper with an uncharacteristic amount of maturity that he might never again possess, Inuyasha cleared his throat and tried again.

"Koibito…" he called her his lover, speaking a little more forcefully and tugging gently at the hem of her kimono. 

"Oh gods, don't start that!" she wailed, burying her head in her hands and crying with renewed abandon.

"Start what?" he yelled, his last, thin thread of sanity snapping in two, "Don't flatter yourself! You think I'd want to do that when you keep attacking me?! I just want to know what the hell is wrong with you?! Why won't you stop crying all the time?!"

"What do you mean 'Don't flatter yourself' ?!" she said angrily, rising to her feet and coming towards him, her little hands balled into fists. "Oh, I get it! You don't think I look pretty anymore!" 

"What?! No! You're pretty, you're very pretty! STOP CRYING!" he pleaded, grabbing her by the sides of her arms and shaking her roughly. 

"Prettier than Kikyo?" she sniffed when he had finished, making big, liquid eyes at him.

"Why is everything about Kikyo?! Who said ANYTHING about Kikyo?!" he cried, tugging on his own forelocks of hair, then screaming "PLEASE STOP CRYING!" when his response set her off on a fresh torrent. 

"Why?" she sobbed miserably. "I have plenty of reason to!" 

"What have I done? What am I doing? Please tell me and I'll stop it right now if you'll only stop crying!" he pleaded desperately with her. "You don't eat, you're sick all the time, and you're always picking on me! I can't take much more of this, it's driving me insane!"

"YOU?!" she screamed. "YOU'RE sick of it? This is all about YOU?! Why of all the selfish, self-center, egotistical-"

"FOR THE LOVE OF KAMI WOULD YOU PLEASE SHUT UP?!" he roared to the heavens. Kagome blinked at him, then her face shattered. 

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Kagome please stop crying! I'm sorry!"

"GO AWAY!" she screamed, throwing herself to the ground.

"Ok, Ok, I'm going…" he began to back away from her, holding his hands protectively in front of him again in case she made any sudden movements. 

"W-where are you going?" she asked suddenly, turning around to face him, her eyes filled with hurt and betrayal. 

"Away?" he said uncertainly.

"Don't go!" she said graspingly, genuinely surprised by his reaction.

"Alright…" he said slowly, dropping into a crouch on the ground beside her, eyeing her distrustfully the entire time. He waited patiently while Kagome caught her breath and dried her tears. When she started to speak, he didn't argue or interrupt. Instead, he did what he should have been doing from the start; he listened.

"We…I…have a very serious problem." she spoke slowly and hesitantly, her eyes never leaving her hands as she wrung them nervously in her lap. "And I can't go home anymore because I'm afraid of what they'll say or do, and I haven't told you because I'm absolutely terrified of what you'll say or do… The only person I have told is Sango, and that's only because she had already figured it out and confronted me…and now I'm fairly certain that Miroku's figured it out, too… I guess I was just hoping that you'd figure it out like they did and I'd never actually have to tell you." Inuyasha's heart was thundering in his chest, and he was beginning to feel slightly ill. There was an uneasy, churning feeling in his stomach as he listened and waited helplessly. When she didn't continue, but rather stared at him intently, he realized that she was waiting for him to say something in return.

"What is it, Kagome?" His voice was shaky, hinting at the tempest of emotions that raged within the hollow of his chest. 

"I'm so afraid to tell you…" she whimpered, her eyes pleading with him to understand intrinsically without having to be told. 

"Can you show me?" he asked. Nodding silently, Kagome began to undo the ties that held together her miko's robes. Inuyasha's mind began to race in panic and fury. 'She is injured! Who did it?! I'll gut them with my bare hands and eat their entrails, the stinking-' his thoughts screeched to a halt as she lifted her top, exposing the white, flawless skin of her torso, where he'd spent many a night resting his head after satiating their lust for one another. He stared at the newly exposed skin, confused. There wasn't a mark on her. What was she trying to tell him?

"I don't understand…" he whispered reaching out to lay the palm of his hand on her stomach, before his voice abandoned him completely, his eyes widening in wonder. Something WAS different. Her stomach, which was normally soft, flat and yielding, had rounded out into a tiny, hard, almost unnoticeable little hill. 

'No…Oh no…' Inuyasha thought to himself.

"Inuyasha," Kagome whispered softly but determinedly, closing her eyes. "I'm carrying a child. You are going to be a father."

'No no no!' his mind screamed. Slowly, he rose up onto his feet and began to back away from the unhappy girl.

"I'm sorry, Kagome." he whispered, his legs trembling as he tried to get away, "I'm sorry." When she opened her eyes again, he was gone. 

Inuyasha raced through the forest, dodging what trees he could at that speed and plowing over the ones he couldn't, leaving a wake of splintered ruin behind him. As he sped along, a frightening red blur to any unlucky creature who happened to witness him pass by, he berated himself angrily. 'What have you done?! Baka! You ruined her life! Everything you touch gets ruined! You destroyed Kagome, just like you destroyed Kikyo! No wonder she hates you…' 

"AaaaarrrAAAA!" he screamed, leaping into the air and landing solidly on a thick tree branch, high above the ground in a massive old tree. 

'There's no way to fix this,' his mind continued, 'so you'd better just stay the hell away from her! She doesn't need to see your face again and be reminded of how your weakness and inability to control your desires has permanently cut her off from everyone and everything she loves! You heard her, she doesn't want you and she doesn't need you, so just stay away. It may hurt like hell, but it's best this way.' Swallowing his fear, his anger and his self-loathing, Inuyasha sat down on the branch, resting his head in his hands. 

"What have I done to you, Kagome?" 

Far from where Inuyasha had eventually come to rest, the demon slayer and the hoshi were sitting quietly in the shade of another tree, listening to the sounds of the afternoon. The wind whistled through the high grass, and the birds sang to one another as they flitted about from place to place, seeming to enjoy the sunny afternoon as much as the humans who shared it with them. It was serenely beautiful and they were totally at peace with it and with each other, which was rare considering the hoshi's tendency to use situations such as this to his advantage. Not that he ever succeeded, mind you, but he usually tried. In fact, at that very moment, unbeknownst to the beautiful young lady sitting beside him, his hand was creeping unseen through the grass, making it's way toward her as if compelled by destiny to ruin this perfect moment. That is, until the peaceful silence was broken by the sounds of a young woman crying. 

"Ah, that would be Kagome-sama." Miroku sighed, drawing his hand back reluctantly. "Why did I even think that Inuyasha would be able to improve this situation?" The sound of her crying grew louder as Kagome appeared over the crest of the hill, then ran down to them and threw herself into Sango's arms. 

"Oh Sango-chan!" she cried, howling like a wounded animal and clinging to the demon slayer desperately, "I told him about the baby and he ran away! He's abandoned me!" 


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3 

Miroku stood above the sobbing woman in Sango's lap, shaking his head in disgust. What he wouldn't have given for an heir, and now, here Inuyasha was about to become a father, and like the baka kusotare that he was, the hanyou had run off. What a waste.

"Kagome-sama," Miroku said, crouching down in the grass beside the women, leaning on his staff for support on the uncertain terrain of the hill they were sitting on. "I know that you're very upset, but I want you to tell me exactly what happened." 

Coming around to his words, the young girl pulled her head from the demon slayer's breast, which by now was quite damp from her tears. Gasping for breath, her eyes red and on the verge of losing herself to her grief once more, she managed to choke out a brief account of what had taken place at the well. When she had finished, Miroku nodded his head sadly, and rose to his feet. 

"Very well." he said decisively, straightening his shoulders. "Sango, would you stay here with Kagome-sama? There's something that I have to do." Sango stared up at him for a moment, looking him up and down as if assessing his capabilities, before she finally spoke. 

"It would be better if I went after him, houshi-sama. I'm a better tracker, and I'm more familiar with youkai habits. I've had more training and experience hunting them. I'd find him much faster than you would."

"I don't doubt it, Sango." the monk said, bowing his head slightly to the demon exterminator. "But while it's true that Inuyasha is half youkai, he is also half man, and I have a feeling that it's that half that's feeling confused."

"That's true." Sango agreed. "A male youkai would never leave his mate unprotected, especially if she were carrying his offspring. A human male, however…" she trailed off, letting the hoshi know exactly what she thought about human males and their habits where women were concerned, without so many words. 

"Oh what's the use?" Kagome gasped suddenly, breaking in on their well-intentioned conversation concerning her life that they had been holding without her. "There's no point in bringing him back if he doesn't want to be with me! You can't force him to care about me, Miroku-sama!" Kagome sobbed, burying her head back in Sango's lap.

"Kagome-chan…" Sango cooed softly, stroking the young girl's hair in an almost instinctually comforting manner. "Hush… Inuyasha does care about you! He cares for you very much! It's like hoshi-sama said, he's probably just confused." 

"That decides it for me." Miroku said firmly, looking off towards Inuyasha's forest. "I will go and draw him out. It may take a few days, depending on how far in he's gone, but I promise to return with him. There may be some bruises sustained on either side, but I'll get him back in one piece." he said it jokingly, but he couldn't have been more serious. If Inuyasha were seriously agitated, he would not go quietly. A small part of the monk wished that he could take Sango up on her offer to go instead, as she wasn't kidding when she said that she was better equipped to deal with the hanyou than he was. But short of killing him, he knew that Sango would not be able to bring Inuyasha back. She wouldn't understand how it felt to be a young man who suddenly found himself stranded in an awkward and yes, even terrifying situation. She wouldn't be able to see past the hanyou's responsibility to Kagome-sama, and would only succeed in laying judgment upon the his head. He wouldn't be likely to return to the village if he thought that he was going to catch hell from everyone for his thoughtless actions. He would, of course, but he didn't have to know that until he was safely within Kagome's 'osuwari' range. 

"Kagome-sama, you said that he left from the well?" Kagome nodded her head miserably, rubbing at her tear-stained cheeks.

"Very well then. That is where I shall begin. Don't despair, Kagome-sama, he couldn't have gone too far if what Sango said about male youkai is correct. Despite what his human emotions are feeling right now, he's still half youkai, and you are his mate, not to mention that you're carrying his child. His instincts will not have allowed him to run off altogether..." he trailed off, scratching his chin as he thought for a moment. After a moment, his eyes brightened with a look of sudden inspiration. "In fact, I think I have an idea that might make this whole thing go a little faster! Kagome-sama, if it meant bringing Inuyasha back sooner, would you allow me to cut your hand?" Kagome looked up at the monk uncertainly, and Sango's eyes narrowed. "Just a shallow cut," he assured them both. "enough to draw blood." Kagome hesitated for a moment, but then she nodded and held her hand out, palm up. Using the edge of his staff, he cut a shallow nick in the palm of her hand. As the crimson blood seeped up into a tiny pool in her cupped hand, Miroku ripped a small swatch of cloth from the sleeve of Kagome's white robe, and used it to sop up the blood. When the fabric was stained red throughout and was fairly moist with it, he knotted it to the top of his staff. 

"There." he said. "Now even if I can't track him, the smell of Kagome-sama's blood will draw him out. Whether he wants to hide from me or not, he won't be able to stay away if he catches the smell of his mate's blood."

"Be careful, hoshi-sama!" Sango warned, giving him a very grave look. "He'll smell Kagome-chan's blood on you long before he bothers to sniff out who you are. There's a good chance that he'll attack you, and if that happens, his instincts will tell him to kill you." Miroku nodded his head solemnly, before stepping forward to place his arm around the girl's shoulders.

"I understand. Sango is worried about me. Afterall, I still have no heir to carry out my revenge if I am killed too early…That is, Sango, unless-"

"Hoshi-sama," she said interrupted, cracking her knuckles, "It's been such a pleasant afternoon. Why spoil it?" Miroku sighed heavily, defeated.

"Oh very well…I guess I'll just have to manage to stay alive…" he muttered as he turned his back on the women and headed off in the direction of the dry well.

"See that you do hoshi-sama…" Sango whispered as he rounded the hill and disappeared from sight. 

Hours later, with nightfall rapidly approaching, Miroku found himself deep within the thick gloom of Inuyasha no mori. Tracking the hanyou hadn't been as difficult as he had anticipated; he had simply followed the trail of splintered trees and wreckage that had lead him from the old dry well to the clearing that he had decided to settle in for the evening. He lit the smallest of fires, after a long debate with himself over the safety of doing so. Eventually, he had decided that if anything was going to attract youkai, it would be the smell of Kagome-sama's blood that was wafting off of him, and not the light of a small campfire. Ignoring the hungry rumble of his stomach, the monk sat with his back against a nearby tree and closed his eyes, focusing with zen-like concentration on the hushed, creeping night noises of the dark forest as he waited patiently for his assailant.

Not far from where the hoshi rested, the hanyou was waking from a fevered dream. …Sesshoumaru… he had seen his half-brother standing before his mate by the dry well where the hanyou had left her, and she had been just as alone and vulnerable. For some reason, he had been able to see them both quite clearly, despite that fact that he was also aware that he had run away, and was now too far gone to get back to the girl in time and protect her. Helplessly, he had watched as Sesshoumaru plunged his poisonous claws into the girls abdomen, ripping out the half-formed, mostly-human whelp that his mate carried, because it's accidental blood relationship to his half-brother had deeply offended the youkai. The hanyou had seen and understood all of this… had watched as the life drained out of Kagome's eyes, as she clutched at the gaping wound in her abdomen and the smell of her blood filled his nose and overwhelmed his senses. But he had been dreaming, hadn't he? As the hanyou slowly fought his way toward conciousness, he was becoming acutely aware of the fact that the smell of his mate's blood was not fading along with the other images of his dream. 

Back in the village, tucked safely away in the miko Kaede's hut, two women and a kitsune shuddered in their sleep as a savage howl pierced the night air, ripping it's way through the hazy fabric of their dreams.

From his guarded position at the base of the tree, Miroku heard the bone-chilling sound as well. But for the hoshi, it was much closer… 

A predatory animal was rapidly approaching the small campsite, and it wanted blood for blood.

The hoshi remained as still and as silent as death, his eyes closed. He sensed the youkai's aura long before he heard the snarl to his immediate left, perhaps less than two feet away. With a flick of the wrist, the binding scrolls appeared between Miroku's middle and index fingers. As the youkai pounced, the hoshi's arm shot out to the side, slapping the scrolls across the creature's eyes and mouth. Momentarily stunned, it fell to its knees, lashing about out in pain and confusion. Miroku didn't waste a second. He leapt to his feet, kicking the youkai hard in it's stomach and knocking it to the ground to land flat on it's back. Instantly, he produced four more scrolls from within the folds of his robes and slapped one across each wrist and ankle, pinning his assailant to the ground. While his captive struggled against his bonds, the hoshi straddled his body and sat down with a hard thump across his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Smiling, Miroku reached down and peeled off the scroll covering his friend's eyes. 

"Ahh, Inuyasha!" the monk said happily. "How kind of you to visit me!" Inuyasha screamed muffled curses beneath the binding scroll, tossing his head from side to side as he tried with all of his strength the rip his body from off the ground. 

"What was that?" Miroku asked conversationally, putting a hand to his ear. "I'm sorry, I can't quite make it out?" Inuyasha's eyes finally stopped to focus on the face that seemed to floated above his own. His eyes immediately filled with recognition, before an instant later when his eyebrows lowered and the look turned into an angry glare. 

"Ah! I see you remember me now." Miroku chuckled. "Well that's good, this will save us some time. We are most fortunate to have run into each other like this, ne? I was just thinking about you, as a matter of fact. We have to have a little talk, you and I. Do you want to know why?" Inuyasha raised his head off the ground as far as his neck would allow and shook his head violently, trying to somehow inflict damaged upon the monk's body. "No?" Miroku said, feigning surprise. "Well, that's unfortunate, because I don't see how there's really anything you can do about it. If you don't want to talk, then I guess you'll just have to listen. Shall I sing you a song? I know lots of drinking songs… or I could recite some sutras from the Dharma, if you'd prefer. Oh, better yet, why don't I describe to you this little adventure I had the other day, when I happened upon some girls bathing in the river…" He stopped, a wide grin on his face as Inuyasha began to nod his head lightly up and down. "Oh, I see, you DO want to talk. Alright, you go first." Inuyasha glared evilly at the monk, while Miroku bit his lip, his body shaking as he tried to contain his laughter. "Oh, sorry about that!" he managed to choke out with a little difficulty. "Here, let me get that for you." The monk reached down again and pulled the scroll off, drawing his hand back quickly in case Inuyasha decided to bite. 

"You're enjoying this WAY to much, bouzu!" the hanyou snarled. "Just wait until we're alone next!"

"Yes, yes, you're very angry and indignant…" the monk sighed wearily. "Let's not mince words, shall we? Why are you hiding out here?"

"Hey, you're the one sitting on me!" Inuyasha growled, suddenly twisting his body violently in an attempted to knock the monk off of him. Miroku wobbled slightly, but held his ground. "What the hell is it that you want, Miroku?" Inuyasha sighed when he finally realized that it was no use struggling. The hoshi's eyes suddenly lost their mirthful glow, and his face became very serious. 

"Well, to start with, you could explain to me why Kagome-sama is under the impression that you have abandoned her and the child."

"N-nani?!" Inuyasha sputtered, his eyes going wide with shock. "Abandoned her? Why would she ever think that I would do that?!"

"Baka!" Miroku snapped, smaking the hanyou on the forehead with the tip of his staff, causing the golden rings on the end to jingle sharply. "Why wouldn't she think that? She tells you that she's carrying your offspring, and you run away like a coward!"

"It wasn't like that!" Inuyasha screamed. "I just couldn't bear to see her suffer like that, and all because of me!"

"So you leave her to suffer alone?!" the monk countered. "You call yourself a man? You're worse than an animal if you would abandon your own child!" Miroku's eyes flashed with anger as his Buddhist composure was momentarily forgotten. The child was a sore spot with him. Inuyasha sensed this, and rubbed some salt in the wounds.

"You don't care about Kagome!" he said, grinning wickedly. "You're just jealous that it's not yours. You know you're never even going to get a woman to fuck you, let alone bear you a son. That kazaan's going to swallow you whole, and you're scared shitless! Call me a coward!" Miroku stared down at Inuyasha for a moment, his elbows resting on his knees. Then, without a word, he rose to his feet and stepped away from the hanyou. With a quick swing of his staff, he severed Inuyasha's bonds. Then without stopping, he turned his back on the hanyou and started to make his way back through the forest, heading for the village. 


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4

"Oi, Miroku, wait!" Inuyasha called, running after the hoshi. Without stopping or turning to look at him, Miroku asked in a cold, flat voice:

"What do you want?" 

"Why do you smell like Kagome's blood!" Inuyasha demanded, running out in front of the monk to block his path.

"Ah." Miroku answered impassively. "That was a trick, Inuyasha. Kagome-sama allowed me to soak this cloth with her blood, figuring that the scent of it would draw you out of hiding. We had hoped it would lure you back to the village." 

"W-wha- Really?" Inuyasha paused, taken slightly aback by this revelation, his eyes widening while his eyebrows contradicted them and lowered sharply, a hanyou's version of surprised confusion. "She wants me to come back?"

"Inuyasha, do me one last favor." Miroku said levelly. "Stay in the forest and leave Kagome-sama in peace. She and the child do not deserve your cruelty."

"What?" Inuyasha snarled, remembering himself. He flashed his canines at the monk menacingly. "Hey asshole, it's my problem and I'll decide what I'm going to do about it, you got that?!"

"Not if I can help it." Miroku said quietly, passing by the bristling hanyou and continuing on through the darkened forest.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Inuyasha demanded hotly, running up beside the hoshi again so that he could read his face properly. "What are you planning?" Miroku sighed heavily, but his brow and jaw were firmly set in a show of determination.

"I'm planning to do the honorable thing, Inuyasha, the only thing I can do to remedy this situation. When I return to the village, I'm going to wed Kagome-sama and raise her child as my own."

"YOU'RE WHAT?!" Inuyasha screamed, jumping out in front of Miroku again. "No you're not! Kagome is my woman, and that's my pup! Get your own goddamn woman, you fucking bouzu!"

"Your woman?! What good are you to her?!" Miroku berated harshly, raising his staff in front of him and going into a defensive crouch as Inuyasha advanced, growling and flexing his claws. "You won't support her, and someone has to! She's about to go through something extremely difficult, and I for one am not going to stand idly by and let her go through it alone, regardless of whether or not the child is mine."

"The child is _mine_!" Inuyasha growled, "And so is Kagome! You stay away from them!"

"And how will you stop me if you're hiding in the forest, coward?" Miroku seethed, taking a half step back as he dangerously baited the hanyou. Inuyasha swiped at the hoshi with his claws, missing Miroku's head by a hair's breadth. 

"Stop calling me that!" Inuyasha roared, "I ain't no fucking coward!"

"No? What else do you call a man who runs from his responsibility?!" Miroku lashed out at the hanyou's ankles with his staff, hoping to trip him up, but Inuyasha was airborne before the blow was landed. With a primal roar, Inuyasha landed squarely on the young monk's chest, knocking him to the ground. As his claws stabbed down toward the hoshi's jugular, the staff shot up, grasped firmly in either of Miroku's hands. The blows were met and deflected off one another, leaving the pair to sneer angrily in each other's faces as two pairs of hands wrapped around the staff, knuckles white as they strained in opposing directions. 

"I wasn't running, asshole," Inuyasha strained through gritted teeth. "and I don't have to explain myself to you!"

"You're absolutely right!" came Miroku's equally labored reply. Moving quickly, the hoshi let one arm go slack, sending his attacker careening to one side, carried by his own downward force on the staff. As Inuyasha rolled to his feet, Miroku jumped back onto his own and held up his hands, palms out in a sign of truce. 

"You are right. Forgive me, I will go now in peace. Sayonara, Inuyasha. My wife and I will send word when the child is born, so that you can offer us your congratulations." That said, he brushed himself off as best he could, and bowed a silent farewell. But as Miroku tried to turn around and head back the way he and come, he found that his feet were no longer touching solid ground. In fact, he was a good foot and a half off the ground, the front of his robes fisted tightly in the talons of Inuyasha's right hand. 

"That's really cute, Miroku." the half-youkai hissed. "You even had me going there for a minute or two…but I can see now what you're trying to accomplish… and I'm warning you for the last time to _stay out of this_." Miroku sighed, letting his arms hang loosely on either side as his body went limp. 

"I would, my friend, but I'm afraid that we can't both stay out of this." Soon, the dead weight began to wear on the hanyou's upper arms, and he lowered the hoshi to the ground, releasing his hold. 

"Of course," Miroku continued once he was safely on his feet again, "I could be convinced to remain uninvolved if someone else were to step in and do the right thing by Kagome-sama."

"I _am _doing the right thing by Kagome…" Inuyasha sighed, dropping into a crouch on the forest floor. "Believe me, it's better this way." 

Without missing a beat, Miroku dropped down to sit beside his troubled friend. 

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha, but I still fail to see how saddling her with a child and then leaving her will benefit Kagome-sama." 

Inuyasha absently ran his claws through the cool, damp earth below his fingertips. He liked the smell of the forest floor, the scent of rich earth mingled with the layers of years upon years of fallen pine needles. It was a comforting smell, and one that he had become acquainted with all to well since the day he'd met Kagome and her 'osuwari'. 

"Of course you don't." he sighed, rubbing some of the dark, sweet smelling earth between his fingertips and thumb. "You wouldn't know anything about it, being human. You'll never have to worry about afflicting your mate with a monster…" 

Miroku offered Inuyasha a tiny, pained smile that went unseen, as he clenched and unclenched the hand that held the kazaana. If they never managed to defeat Naraku, that same hell hole would be passed along to any child that he helped to conceive, immediately following own death. He wanted to point out the monstrosity of his heredity to Inuyasha, but now was not the time to lapse into morbid thoughts about his own affliction. He had promised Kagome-sama that he would return with her man. 

"You are referring to the child's mixed heritage." Miroku said quietly, trying to give his friend an opportunity to speak his mind, and if he was fortunate enough, his heart. 

"Keh! Heritage! That's a pretty way of saying it, bouzu…" Inuyasha muttered bitterly.

"I cannot believe that you would harbor any such prejudice, Inuyasha, especially against your own child." the hoshi sighed.

"Baka!" Inuyasha spat at him. "It's not me you should be worried about!" A low rumbling rising in his chest, Inuyasha clenched his hands into twin fists and pounded them into the soft, yielding earth.

"If I go back now, then everyone in that village is going to know that the whelp Kagome is carrying is demon spawn! Those villagers will make both of their lives a living hell…trust me, I know what I'm talking about! But if I stay out of their lives, then who knows? Maybe the kid won't look anything like m-…like a youkai at all, and they'll be able to lead the safe, normal, life that my own mother was denied."

"Safe?" Miroku asked incredulously, lifting an eyebrow. "Maybe the child will be fortunate enough to look human and fool the villagers, but what about the youkai, Inuyasha? They'll know… and if I'm not mistaken, they hate you more for being hanyou than the humans do. What about… what about _Sesshoumaru_? Who will protect Kagome-sama and the child from his wrath?" Despite the cold wave of doubt that he felt at the hoshi's mentioning of his half-brother's name, and so shortly after the nightmare he'd suffered, Inuyasha managed to keep up his façade. Crossing his arms tightly over his chest, he snorted derisively.

"Just because I'll be staying out of sight doesn't mean that I'll be going anywhere. I'll protect them from the youkai, and from _him_, don't worry about that! I am _not_ running away from my responsibility, you understand?"

"Inuyasha…" Miroku began slowly, "I see what your intentions are now, and I must admit, that your heart is in the right place… But what you fail to realize is that Kagome-sama does not see you in terms of human, youkai or hanyou. She sees only 'Inuyasha'. It is much the same with this child. She is not upset by the cross of blood! Her only fear, throughout all of this, has been of displeasing you. The girl's love for you is frighteningly deep, my friend." 

The hanyou sighed miserably at these words, his head slumping against his chest in defeat. 

"I never asked her to love me. I as much as told her not to…" 

"Baka! As if it is something that can be turned off! You of all people should understand this!" 

"a-ah…hai…" 

"Inuyasha, we all know that your heart is… not free to love in return. Kagome-sama, in particular, is most painfully aware of this…but despite how you think you feel, I know that you care for the girl."

"Of course I care! I wouldn't have done… _that_ with her if I didn't care!"

"Perhaps _you_ would not, but many would, Inuyasha, and this is where our problem lies. I know that you gave your promise to Kikyo, but-"

"_Kikyo?!_ You think _that's_ what this is all about?!"

"Well, uh, yes." Miroku gulped, slightly confused. "At least partially…" 

"I have strong feelings for Kikyo. I won't deny that, and yes, I did promise to protect her… but some responsibilities are far greater… That is _my child_…" Inuyasha said the words softly, full of reverence, as if he himself were realizing it for the very first time. After a few minutes, he turned to look at Miroku, a hard, determined gleam in his eyes. 

"That comes before any promise."

"Good." Miroku said softly, clapping Inuyasha on the shoulder. "Then we are in agreement." The hoshi slowly rose to his feet, then turned around and headed down the path once more, calling over his shoulder: 

"Come along, Inuyasha!"

"N-Nani?" the hanyou stammered, a blush rising to tint his cheeks and nose an angry pink. "I already told you, I-I'm not going back…" 

"Don't be ridiculous, of course you are! For every hour that you remain hidden in this forest, another tiny piece of Kagome-sama's spirit slips away… I told you that she would not be able to do this alone, Inuyasha, but the reality of this situation is that she will not be able to do this without _you_. Now come along! You said yourself that some things are more important…" 

"Well, well yes, b-but I was talking about-"

"Very well then, it's settled! Now let's hurry up and get back, I'm hungry!" 

"Do you have bugs in your ears???" Inuyasha yelped, chasing after the monk. The pink of his cheeks had deepened to a more violent shade of maroon, as he was becoming quite flustered and agitated. "I said I'm not-!"

"Alright then, have it your way…" Miroku said easily, continuing down the path at a brisk pace, his staff clicking against the ground in quick, clipped intervals. "Tell me, then, what do you think of the name 'Kenta' for a boy? That's a nice strong name…" 

"C-Cut that out! I know you're not serious!"

"Of course, there's always the possibility that it will be a girl…" the hoshi sang softly to himself. "But I do so like 'Kenta'… hmmm… Of course, any child with your bloodlines is bound to be very strong, regardless of it's sex… I wonder how Kagome-sama would feel about giving a baby girl such a forceful name… Of course, as her husband, the decision would ultimately be mine…"

"Oi! I said cut it out! Miroku?! I'm not kidding here!" 

"Then again, maybe it's better not to decide right away. It could be bad luck! I must consult Kaede-sama…" he mused, completely ignoring the hanyou's ranting. "Ah! Here's something I hadn't considered before! As my wife, it will be Kagome-sama's DUTY to bear me a child! AH!! This _is_ a most fortunate turn of events…I must remember to thank Inuyasha…" 

"BASTARD! Listen to me when I'm talking to you!" 

Miroku turned back to look at the hanyou as if seeing him for the first time, an expression of mild annoyance on his face. 

"Please, Inuyasha, stop making so much noise! I'm trying to think…"

"BOUZU!" Inuyasha screamed, breaking into a cold sweat. "I can't tell anymore, are you being serious or not?!" 

Miroku smiled a tight little half smile, then turned to hide his face in shadows.

"If you stay in this forest, then you'll never know, will you? Just imagine all the things you'll miss, hanging around in these trees…with only your fleas to talk to…"

"Fleas!" Inuyasha muttered darkly. "Well isn't this just great?! Now I'm getting lectures from-"

"Inuyasha, I am a mon-" Miroku began defensively, before he was abruptly cut off.

"-the biggest swindler, thief and pervert this side of-"

"-_I'm_ not the one who defiled an innocent gir-"

"-asks every woman he meets to-"

"-don't forget who's the one in trouble here, it's not m-" 

"-probably couldn't even _spell _pious, let alone-"

"Alright!" Miroku cried suddenly, cutting short the hanyou's tirade. "That's enough! I am out here, in the middle of the night, on an empty stomach, in a youkai infested forest, because I made a promise to Kagome-sama that I would find you and bring you back, kicking and screaming, if I had to, and so help me, I am going to keep that promise! Now either come along quietly because you care about what becomes of Kagome-sama and your child, or keep acting like an animal and I'll just have to bind you again! Which will it be?" 

"Huh? Is that supposed to be a threat?" Inuyasha paused to crack the knuckles on his right fist. "You got lucky last time, monk. I dare you to try that again!"

~

"Kagome-sama…" a gentle hand was shaking her, rousing her from her slumber… but then it traveled from her shoulder to her back, and all the way down to…

"Ack! Miroku-sama!" she cried, bolting upright and smacking away his groping fingers. "What the heck is your problem, anyway? What kind of a good morning is that?!" 

"Forgive me…" he sighed, rubbing the sting of her chastising slap from his fingertips. "It's hard to change one's habits… but Kagome-sama, I believe you will be in better spirits soon, for I have brought you a gift."

"Nande?" Kagome sighed, her heart dropping lower into her chest. Her friend the hoshi was probably trying to make her feel better by offering her one of the many baubles he kept on hand in hopes of attracting young women to him, meaning that either Inuyasha had refused to return to the village, or Miroku had never found him. 

"A gift, Miroku-sama?" she sighed, trying not to sound totally morose.

"Hai!" he smiled happily. "Wrapped and everything." 

"Alright." Forcing a tiny smile, she held out her hand to accept it. It was quite inappropriate, to say the least, but when she saw the good-natured twinkle in his eyes, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of affection for the young monk. At least he was trying to soften the blow… 

She became quite puzzled when he laughed at her outstretched palm.

"No, no, Kagome-sama! It's much too big to fit in your delicate little hand. Why don't you step outside and we'll all have a look together, shall we? Sango, Shippou, wake up!" he cried, rousing the others from their dreams. 

"Houshi-sama…?" Sango questioned drowsily. "You're back already? Oh dear…"

"What's going on?" Shippou yawned, his mouth becoming so impossibly huge with the effort of it that it looked as though he wouldn't have far to go before he swallowed his own head.

"Miroku-sama says he has a gift for me…" Kagome explained quietly.

"Have you been out swindling warlords out of their property again?" Shippou asked suspiciously, running around the monk's ankles and checking his robes for stolen goods. 

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Miroku stated flatly, punting the kitsune across the room the instant the two women had turned their backs. Shippou retaliated with a sharp bite to the hoshi's ankle, causing him to curse in a very unholy fashion. 

"Knock it off, you two!" Sango scolded. "Now hoshi-sama, what was so important that you had to wake us all up?"

"Yeah, where's this present everybody keeps talking about?" Shippou piped up, rubbing his bruised bottom. "And how come you never bring me anything?"

"This is a special present, for Kagome-sama." Bending down, he whispered "You wouldn't want it Shippou, trust me!" The kitsune gave Miroku a funny look, and stuck his lip out in a tiny pout.

"Well, I think that's enough secrecy, don't you?" Miroku said in a loud, enthusiastic voice. "Let's all step outside and have a look!" 

Holding back the reed curtain, he ushered them out into the morning sunlight. Kagome was the last one out the door, and at first she was a bit puzzled by Sango's gasp and the kitsune's giggles… that is, until she finally set eyes upon Miroku's 'gift.' 

"What did I tell you?" Miroku chuckled, beaming proudly. "Wrapped and everything!"

"Oh, Miroku-sama…" Kagome gulped, her eyes widening in shock and dismay. "You shouldn't have…"

"No, no! For you, Kagome-sama, it was really no trouble at all!"

"No, Miroku-sama. You _really, really shouldn't have!_"

Lying in the middle of the dirt path that lead right up to Kaede's door was her gift. Inuyasha; blind, bound and gagged, ranting unintelligibly beneath Miroku's binding scrolls.


	5. Chapter 5

Part 5 

Releasing a small, pained breath, Kagome turned to her friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. 

"Bring him inside, Miroku-sama. Then I want the three of you to find a better way to occupy your morning than hanging around here." 

Sango nodded, her understanding and sympathy expressed plainly by the look in her eyes. Shippou seemed very confused, but seldom would he question any wish of Kagome's. Miroku walked over to the struggling bundle that was the hanyou. Grabbing him by the collar, he dragged him past the small crowd of startled onlookers that had gathered in the road and over the threshold of the miko Kaede's hut, depositing him with a soft grunt on the wooden floor inside. 

"Are you certain that you don't want me to remain, Kagome-sama?" he asked a little too hopefully. "In case he decides to run again?"

"Miroku-sama," Kagome sighed, bowing her head sadly. "Please don't think that I don't appreciate all that you're trying to do for me… but if he wants to go, I will let him go. I'm not going to hold him here against his will." She paused, then continued more quietly, "I can't force him to love me, Miroku-sama, and neither can you."

In spite of her efforts to remain unheard, the tightly-bound figure, now propped up in the far corner of the hut, heaved a deep, ragged sigh through his nose. 

"Very well, Kagome-sama. I will leave you to it." The hoshi bowed politely to the young miko, then stepped out of the room, leaving her alone with her problems. 

When she was certain that he had stepped off the porch and was, in fact, leaving, Kagome turned to regard her 'gift.' Reaching down, she peeled off the wide band of paper covering his mouth. She would save the blinders for last. She didn't want to see his eyes…and wanted even less for him to look at her. 

"Kagome…" he whispered as soon as his lips were freed, and drew another deep, shaky breath. The world was dark beneath the ofuda that still covered his eyes, but he could tell from scent and sound that they were now alone together. 

"I'm sorry he did this to you…" she whispered, carefully lowering herself to her knees in front of him to remove the rest of his binds. "Hold on a moment, I'll… I'll set you free."

_Oh Kagome, are you talking about the scrolls, or something else?_

"I'll stay."

~

"I thought you said you were going to _talk _to him, hoshi-sama." 

Miroku's shoulders tensed a fraction of an inch, but when he spoke, his voice lilted with its customary ease. 

"I did talk to him."

"I see." Sango said testily, folding her arms over her chest. "Was that before or after he was gagged? You know, _I _could have forced him to come back just as easily, but _you_ left us under the impression that you could convince him to come back willingly! Do you even realize what you've done to poor Kagome-chan?" She said the last while poking him in the chest with her finger for dramatic emphasis.

"Sango," he sighed, "what do you want me to say? I tried talking to him, I did. He wasn't in the mood to be reasoned with. At one point, I was even quite tempted to come back without him entirely, and I would have, were it not for the promise I had made to Kagome-sama."

"Not like this, hoshi-sama!" the taijiya hissed furiously, gesturing wildly at the small crowd of villagers who were taking an almost obscene amount of time to disperse and go back about their business. "I know she didn't want this, this…spectacle! Even _you _must have realized that this wasn't-"

"Sango." His interruption was soft but firm as he captured her flailing hands in his own and held them tightly against his chest. "I gave her my promise." 

Sango's breath caught in her throat, and the angry tension in her face dissolved into a look of befuddlement that he had to admit was very attractive. He watched with a quiet, almost amused sort of satisfaction as her gaze rose up to meet his, then dropped down to where their hands were clasped at his heart, a maidenly tinge diffusing across her cheeks. 

"Y-yes." she sighed, her voice softened with resignation. "He _is_ rather stubborn, isn't he?"

"Yes." he agreed, releasing one of her hands so that he could reach out his own to cup her chin and lift her gaze back up to his eyes. "But more than that, he's confused, Sango."

"Confused? He has no right to be. It seems to me that he made his choice when he…did…_that_…to her."

"Yes, that's true… But maybe he wants to…to give his heart to her, and his…current situation won't allow it. Maybe he's afraid of disappointing her, or of hurting her when she's already been through so much already…" he trailed off, losing himself in the warmth of her soft brown eyes, and Sango's brow wrinkled in confusion. 

"Inuyasha and Kagome, hoshi-sama?"

"Wh-Huh?" he asked stupidly, blinking and a bit startled. 

"You _were_ still talking about Inuyasha and Kagome just now, weren't you?"

"Inuyasha and…? Oh! Yes, of course, Sango! I mean who else would I be…I mean, really-" he stammered nervously, smiling like an idiot. "Inuyasha and Kagome…naturally…I mean, of course…"

"Hoshi-sama?"

"Yes, Sango?" he said casually, his momentary loss of composure seemingly forgotten as he reverted back to his usual self-assured tone and posturing, what Sango had come to regard as his 'playboy' look. Be that as it may, she was sure that she hadn't been imagining things a few moments ago, when he had been boring holes into her with those amazing blue eyes… 

"Do you think he…loves her?" she asked, willing him to read between the lines of her thinly veiled question. She was almost positive that she had gotten through his defenses when he exhaled an airy, 

"Oh yes, Sango."

"But?" 

"But." he laughed, a touch of the nervousness from before creeping into his chuckle. "Well, you said it best yourself…he's stubborn."

"And confused, as you said." He nodded, and as he did, Sango began to feel a faint tingling sensation on the bridge of her nose. Was it her imagination, or was his face drawing closer?

"Yes, confused…" 

"And stupid, you guys! Don't forget stupid!" the nearly forgotten kitsune suddenly piped up, hopping upon Miroku's head and completely obliterating the moment. Sango pulled her hands away from the monk's, coughing into her fist and looking thoroughly embarrassed. The almost serene expression on Miroku's face changed to a grimace as he struggled with himself to keep from tossing the furry little intruder into the nearest tree.

"Hai, Shippoouu…" he muttered, his voice straining with the effort it took not to explode. "very, very stupid!"

"Ah, hoshi-sama…" Sango interjected, quickly trying to shift everyone's focus away from what had 'almost' just happened. "Don't you think that maybe we should go somewhere else? Kagome-sama did ask us to leave."

"Yes, of course, you're right…" he muttered, still cursing his bad luck and Shippou's unfortunate timing under his breath. "At any rate, it wouldn't be good if Inuyasha were to come out here and see us all standing about suspiciously."

"Mmm." Sango agreed, nodding her head. "Alright Shippou, Kirara, let's go see if we can find ourselves a cherry tree… Hoshi-sama? Why are you lagging behind?"

"Ah." Miroku laughed a bit awkwardly as a guilty smile spread over his face. "Well, someone has to stay behind in case things turn ugly, ne?"

"He wants to eavesdrop." Shippou whispered into her ear conspiratorially. 

"No, no, no! It's not like that! You misunderstand me, Sango! Don't listen to the kid, what does he know? S-sango? AAH! Now really, I must object…" The hoshi's voice faded away into the early morning breeze as the taijiya dragged him away by his earrings. 

~

Kagome paused, momentarily thrown off her guard, but recovered quickly and went back to removing the scrolls from his body. 

"No, Inuyasha."

"Kagome, I'll stay."

She nibbled on her bottom lip as she considered this, glad that the ofuda covering his eyes was still in place. She didn't want to think about what she might have said or done next if she'd had to look into his eyes. Willing herself to remain calm, she summoned up the courage to speak the words that had to come next. 

"I don't want you to force yourself. I couldn't live with that…or you." She tried to say it with some finality, but her voice had a tremulous waver to it that she couldn't seem to control. Attempting to cover it up, she took her time tearing apart the scrolls binding his wrists, making a long, drawn out riiiiiiiiiiip. As soon as they were free, he began to rub at his wrists, massaging away the pain and stiffness while encouraging the circulation back into his hands. They were pale, she noted sadly, save for the tell-tale pink welts where the ofuda had rested against his skin. 

"I wouldn't be forcing myself." he muttered, sounding hurt and more than slightly annoyed. "Why do you say things like that? Why did you tell Miroku that I abandoned you? You know I wouldn't do that, Kagome."

"Do I?" she said flippantly, tearing the binds from his ankles a bit too forcefully and eliciting a wince as the thin edge of the paper nicked his skin. "You'll excuse me if I'm not entirely convinced."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he demanded. 

"It means I don't believe you!"

"You don't believe…?" He brought his hands up to his face and tried to peel the ward from off his eyes, but every time he reached his fingers out to touch it, white hot sparks of energy leapt across the distance between the scroll and his fingertips, discouraging further attempts. Finally, tired of the pain and greatly frustrated, he snapped.

"Damn it, Kagome, why did you think I abandoned you?"

"Oh give me a break! Do I really have to spell it out for you?"

"Baka! Listen to me, the only thing I forced myself to do was _leave_. Staying is easy!"

"How can you say that to me?" she cried, her voice breaking under the force of her emotions. "Why are you doing this? God damn you! You left! I was vulnerable, and I put my trust in you and you left! Miroku had to tie you up and drag you back, and now that I'm letting you go, you're telling me that you never wanted to leave? What am I supposed to do with that? Are you just trying to break my heart or drive me insane to boot? Answer me!" 

The interior of the small hut was charged with the young miko's anger, so much, in fact, that the it seemed to crackle and hum. He could feel the electricity in the air as an almost tangible thing; it had raised the small hairs on the back of his neck. It must have been an awe-inspiring sight, but as he was blind to it, the only thing he felt was the inevitable guilt and sadness that came from knowing he had hurt her. 

"I'm sorry." he whispered. "I thought I was doing what you wanted." 

In the next instant, Kagome reached out and ripped the binding scroll from his eyes.

"Don't you lie to me Inuyasha! Don't you dare lie to me!" she hissed, tears spilling from her eyes as she glared at him defiantly. "You look me in the eye right now and tell me the truth! It was one thing when you were just stringing _me_ along, but now I have someone else's future to worry about, and I won't let you play with us like this anymore! I need the truth, Inuyasha! Out with it! What is it that you want?"

Grabbing her by the upper arms, he pulled her into an embrace. 

"I'll stay."

__


	6. Chapter 6 limey content

Part 6

If spring had been unseasonably warm that year, then the summer that followed was bordering on unbearable. It was one of the hottest summers that the elders could remember, at least those who hadn't already succumbed to the heat. It was a sad fact that quite a number of the village's elderly had sought final refuge in a cold grave that season. 

It was a lazy summer, one in which, apart from grave digging, little work was done. The villagers were finding it difficult to move in the oppressive heat of the daylight hours, and by the time night fell, there were too many insects and hungry youkai scouring the countryside to remain out of doors. 

On this particular day, the heat of the noonday sun had driven Miroku beneath a large red maple, where he was currently trying nap. He sat with his back to the tree, resting his head against the trunk, and lamented the fact that the shade offered little comfort from the rising temperature. He might have gone down to the river, had his limbs not felt quite so heavy, his feet leaden by the oppressive, exhausting heat. He barely had the energy to breath, let alone move, tempting though the cold water may have seemed. Even though his clothing was stuck to his body with perspiration, and he had definitely smelled better, he did not move. Even though he loathed feeling as uncomfortable and unkempt as he felt, he did not budge. Even though he knew that at that very moment, the village women had decided en masse to take a communal dip in the river wearing nothing but their short, white bathing robes, he did not stray from beneath that tree. It was that hot.

Somewhere, not too far off, a disembodied voice was calling his name. Miroku closed his eyes, a slight grimace settling over his features as he tried to fall asleep before whoever was calling him discovered where he was. He had no intention of answering and revealing himself, but it probably wouldn't matter. He had a nasty suspicion that it was Inuyasha calling him again. The grimace changed to an outright frown as the red behind his eyelids turned suddenly to black, signifying that someone was now standing between his face and the sun. Reluctantly, he cracked open one lazy, half-lidded eye. 

"Oi." 

Even Inuyasha had stripped down a few layers, he noticed. He had tied his haori around his waist, and the white kimono beneath was tucked very loosely, leaving a small portion of his chest exposed to that air. Not that there was any air… 

"How can you stand all that hair on your neck?" the monk marveled, murmuring weakly as he closed his eye once more. Staring at the flushed, sweaty hanyou had only served to remind him of how incredibly hot and uncomfortable he was himself. Inuyasha shrugged before realizing that Miroku was not looking at him anymore.

"I don't have time to think up any nasty comebacks right now. I told Kagome to stay put for five minutes, so naturally she ran off somewhere. Do you have any idea where she went this time?" Miroku peeked his eye open again and made a show of looking the hanyou up and down.

"_You_ left her alone for five minutes?" he mumbled, his voice heavy with disbelief. "No wonder she ran off."

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

_I mean you haven't left her alone for five SECONDS in almost three months. I'm surprised she hasn't killed you yet._ This he thought, but he kept it to himself. He didn't have the energy to deal with the hanyou at present. Of course, with the way Inuyasha had been acting lately, no one did. 

"Nothing. Never mind, it's too hot to argue. I think she went to the river with Sango, to cool off. But if I were you, I'd wait until they come back on their own. The other women from the village-" but as the warning was leaving his lips, the darkness behind his eyelids popped back to bright red. Inuyasha was already gone.

"Oh well have fun…" Miroku sighed. Running a parched tongue over his lips, he let his mind wander of its own accord. Right before nodding off, he entertained a lovely little fantasy in which he had discovered the secret of how to make rainfall, and the young women of the village were very, very grateful… 

~

"Oh, this feels so good!" Kagome purred, raising the dipper into the air again and pouring the icy water over her head. It cascaded down her body, soaking through the bathing robe and sliding into each and every overheated crevice. All around her, the village women were standing in the knee-deep water, similarly dressed and repeating this same ritual to themselves and each other. 

"Here, Kagome-chan, let me." Sango offered, taking the dipper from her hand. She draped Kagome's long wet hair over one shoulder, then brought the dipper up again, pouring the cold water down Kagome's neck and back. 

"Ooo!" Kagome cooed blissfully, closing her eyes as the shivery, delicious sensation of a thousand icy little pin-pricks ran danced down her spine. "Haaaa…Arigatou!" 

Sango laughed, pleased by her friend's reaction.

"That's quite alright, Kagome-chan. I know how badly this weather is affecting the rest of us. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for you."

"Mmmnn…" Kagome groaned in dismal agreement. "I've never felt so heavy and awkward in my entire life, Sango-chan. Between this belly and the heat, and those stupid heavy robes…" She sighed heavily, all traces of her former cheerfulness draining from her face.

"What's the matter?" Sango asked quietly, pouring the cold water over her friend's back a second time. 

"It's nothing." she whispered, glancing around nervously at the other bathing women. "I'll tell you later." 

Kagome hated to admit it, but she didn't feel comfortable talking about her problems or her pregnancy with the other village women so close by. In the past, she'd never been aware of any disapproval or malice on their part, but over the last few months, she had sensed a mounting discord within the village, one that grew steadily with each passing day, just as Inuyasha's child had grown within her womb. Now, when she walked along the dusty paths of their village, she could feel harsh, judgmental eyes burning into her body, following her every footstep. Feeling like some sort of detestable bug under their constant scrutiny had been bad enough, but lately she thought that she could hear them whispering as well. Just today she could have sworn that she had heard someone stifle a nasty snicker when she had almost fallen as Sango had helped down the rocky banks and into the river. Then, when she had peered up into the sea of feminine faces, no one had dared to meet her gaze. She had found that this was the worst part; she could never be certain if any of it was real or if she was simply imagining things. What she did know was that she hated feeling this way. She didn't like feeling paranoid and suspicious of the other women, but then, she liked the feeling of being ostracized from the community even less. It wasn't fair. She had always been kind to the people in Kaede-bachan's village. The only thing that had changed had been her relationship to Inuyasha. Why had something as innocent as her love earned her the revulsion of everyone in the community? Why should something so small and helpless be abhorred by everyone? 

A woman behind Kagome's right shoulder gasped, startling her from her thoughts. Someone to her left forced a cough, and soon the women were all buzzing around her like a swarm of angry hornets.

"Oh dear." Sango whispered, turning Kagome by the shoulders to point her in the right direction to see what all the fuss was about. 

Inuyasha, radiating with feral beauty and anger, was standing on the banks of the river, staring at her intently. For one, brief instant, she saw him as the other women present must have been seeing him. Never before had she been so painfully conscious of how alien his features were, how otherworldly and apart. From the golden eyes to the pointed ears tipped with light tufts of fur, he seemed almost bestial. She flinched a second later when he barked her name. The hard, clipped edge to his voice left no room for misinterpretation. He was not simply calling to her, and this was not a request. It was a command, as clear as if he'd shouted "Get over here now!" instead of simply saying her name. 

Kagome's face grew red as she heard someone chuckling behind her. With a little help from Sango, she climbed ungracefully out of the water. Her body had become a difficult thing to maneuver, weighed down as she was with water and child. As she stumbled onto the bank, she distinctly heard whispering.

_'…animal…'_

_'…shameful and disgusting, really…'_

_'Well that's what she gets…'_

Kagome glanced up at Inuyasha, instantly regretting the way she had allowed herself to look at him only a few seconds earlier. She could hear their poorly suppressed whispering quite plainly; there was no way that he couldn't. But if Inuyasha had heard, he gave no indication. He simply waited with his arms folded for her to waddle past, then followed closely on her heels, shepherding her away from the river bank. 

"So this is what we've come to." he growled softly once they were out of earshot. "I can't even leave to take a shit without having to worry about you wandering off." 

"Inuyasha-" she began to protest, but he quickly cut her off.

"I thought I told you to stay put? Funny, but this doesn't look at all like the meadow where I left you!"

"Inuyasha, it was hot."

"Thank you, I hadn't noticed! And if you think that's an acceptable excuse, then you're sadly mistaken."

"Oh for crying out loud!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "It's not like I wandered off into the mountains with a Yeti! I went to the river along with Sango and _every other woman_ in the village. Haven't you ever heard of safety in numbers?" 

Inuyasha snorted at this, lifting a low branch out of her way so that she wouldn't have attempt the awkward task of trying to duck beneath it. 

"Cattle stand around together, too. You think they're safe? What exactly do you think we were eating last night?"

"Really?" she asked, deftly changing the subject. "I thought that was venison. How did you manage to get beef? Don't tell me you've been raiding the villagers' livestock!"

"What are you nuts? You don't piss where you sleep, Kagome." he frowned at her, taking her hand as he absently helped her over a fallen log. Little gestures like that had quickly become second nature since he'd learned of the pup. It was around that same time that he'd started watching over Kagome's every waking moment. He couldn't explain why exactly, but he seemed incapable of resisting the urge. She just seemed so damned…_helpless_. 

"I got it from Miroku." he went on to explain. "_He_ got it from the headman, as a token of appreciation for staying in the village for the last few months and warding off youkai. And since _I'm _the one who's been doing all the 'warding' around here, he gave it to me."

"Miroku did that? Wow. How…honest…of him."

"Yeah, I was surprised too. But I'm pretty sure that the only reason he did was because you're about to pup."

"Oh?" she asked conversationally. "What makes you say that?" 

"Ah, the bastard tried to lecture me about how pregnant women need extra nourishment, like I'm some kind of idiot. Now if you're done trying to distract me, I want you to listen."

"damn!" Kagome cursed under her breath. She'd thought he hadn't noticed. 

"You have got to stop wandering off without me! Do you know how dangerous it is for you right now? Do you have any idea just how vulnerable you are? All we need is for some stray youkai with nothing better to do to come sniff you out…" he trailed off, the growl in his chest reverberating to a deeper resonance at the very thought of the unspoken possibilities. "You're risking both of your lives, you know. You're being careless and stupid and it's really starting to piss me off."

Kagome stared off into space, nodding her head every so often as he ranted. She had hardly listened to a single word he'd said in the last five minutes, choosing instead to ponder her own thoughts about what had happened at the river. She was fairly certain that he wouldn't notice, caught up in his own tirade as he was, and he'd developed a habit of repeating himself as of late, so she wasn't too worried that she'd miss anything that she hadn't already heard a hundred times before. Although apparently, she'd grown a bit too complacent, because she realized a bit belatedly that there had been a large gap in the "conversation" and that Inuyasha was now regarding her rather suspiciously. 

"You're right, Inuyasha." she said much too quickly and far too late. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Inuyasha stared at her for a full beat, a funny, unreadable expression on his face.

"Alright. What? What is it?" he demanded, shaking his head in what appeared to be disgust. 

"What do you mean?"

"Why don't you tell me what the hell is bothering you so much that you can't even listen to me when I'm yelling at you?" Kagome swallowed hard. She took a minute to collect her thoughts, trying to think of a way to put it delicately, so as not to hurt his feelings.

"Those women at the river…" she began carefully. 

"Yeah? What about 'em?"

"They…said things." she finished weakly. She waited while Inuyasha sighed through his nose, then seemed to stop and collect his own thoughts. She wondered what his idea of 'putting it delicately' might amount to. 

"I heard." he said finally. "Listen, Kagome…you can't let shit like that get to you. Believe me, those cackling hens are the _least_ of your worries."

"I know…" she whispered, "I'm just not used to being…" 

"Hated?" he offered. Kagome nodded miserably. "Yeah, well, get used to it. It's only going to get worse."

"Oh thanks a lot!" she laughed bitterly, "You sure know how to comfort a girl." She sped up her pace just enough so that she outdistanced him by a few steps. Inuyasha hopped forward, falling back into step beside her.

"Kagome, I'm serious." he said softly, shooting her a sidelong glance. "You're about to become the mother of a half-breed. You are going to have to be tougher than this. A lot tougher."

"Well maybe it would be easier to deal with the people who hate me if the people who are supposed to care about me weren't always yelling at me!" She was trying to sound disdainful, but an unexpected sniffle killed her pretense. 

"Don't start crying." he said flatly, which, of course, had the adverse effect on Kagome. She exploded.

"I can't help it, you asshole! Pregnant women are emotional! What do you expect when you won't stop harassing me? You're supposed to be supportive, you know, not lecturing me all the time!" 

"Toughen up, Kagome. I lecture you because you worry me, and because I care about you. If a couple of harsh words are all it's going to take to start you whimpering, then what's going to happen after the pup comes along?"

"I bet your father didn't treat your mother like this!" Kagome sobbed into her hands, dropping down lightly to sit on a large rock jutting out along the side of the path. "I bet he was nice to her, and told her she looked pretty and that he l-lo…oh forget it!" 

He clenched and unclenched his fists a few times, trying to control himself from lashing out and demolishing the nearest tree. Ordinarily, he wouldn't have cared, but the nearest tree was situated in such a way that there was the slightest possibility that it would land on her, so he stayed his claws. Instead, he grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her to her feet. He wrapped one arm around her back, and with the other hand, grasped her chin firmly and tilted it upward until her watery gaze met his.

"My motherdied." he growled softly. "I expect you to do better." 

After that, there wasn't anything she could say. He released her as soon as she had stopped crying, then lapsed into a moody silence. They continued on in that same weighty silence all the way to the Goshimboku, where Kagome finally mustered up the nerve to break it. 

"Why did you bring me here?" she asked quietly. Inuyasha shrugged.

"I don't know. You seem to like it here, and I thought you might not want to head back to the village right away." Kagome smiled at the ancient tree. She clasped one of his hands and rested her head against his shoulder.

"Thank you." 

Inuyasha shrugged again.

"Just because I won't go easy on you doesn't mean that I don't understand." 

"Well then, so you that know, just because I don't always understand doesn't mean that I won't go easy on you." She gently squeezed his hand, then laced his fingers between her own.

"Keh. You go easy on me? That'll be the day." he muttered darkly, scoffing. She might have believed it, too, if hadn't been so obvious that he was trying not to grin. 

"Tell you what, I'll go easy on you the same day that you go easy on my poor swollen feet. I need to sit down."

Releasing her fingers, Inuyasha walked over to the foot of the Goshimboku, then turned dropped onto his seat, resting his back against the trunk. Looking up at Kagome, he patted the ground between his splayed legs. "Come over here. Sit with me."

"You don't think it's a little hot for that?" she asked, rubbing the back of her neck. She felt sticky and grimy now after their walk, despite her cooling bath.

"Nah. You're soaking wet. If anything it'll cool me off." Kagome wasn't entirely convinced, but she humored him. She carefully lowered herself to sit between his bent knees, resting her back against his chest. 

"Oh…" she sighed wearily, drawing another deep, labored breath into her constricted lungs. "Ugh. I feel so fat and heavy all the time…Inuyasha?"

"What?" he asked quickly, sounding slightly panicked. "I didn't say anything! You look fine!" 

"No, not that." she laughed softly, amused by his reaction. "I was going to ask if you didn't mind if I closed my eyes for a little while. The heat is making me sleepy."

"Uh, sure." he said, a little hesitantly. "I've got nowhere else to be, I guess."

"Mmmm…good." she murmured, closing her eyes. "…because I'm halfway there already."

~

When Kagome awoke a few hours later, the sky was considerably darker. The air had cooled slightly, and she could hear the first tentative night noises sounding off from the depths of the forest. The sun had not yet set entirely, however, and it's last rays were washing over them, bathing them in a warm, orange glow. She felt Inuyasha shift behind her, and she turned her head to look back at him. He met her gaze, a faint smile twitching on his lips, and Kagome suddenly began to feel a warm stirring inside of her. It was a familiar, insistent pull, mixed with an excited tingling that she hadn't felt in a long time; not since she'd learned of the baby.

She knew what it meant, what she wanted, although the feeling wasn't exactly the same as it once had been. Before, when she had slept with Inuyasha, it had been because she loved him, and had hoped that he loved her in return. It had always been about love, and having sex, for her at least, had seemed like a means to that end. 

But not now. This was not that heady swell in her breast that made her want to give herself like a gift, sweetly in the name of love. This was a hunger. When she looked at his face, at his lips, at his neck and his chest, all she could imagine was ripping off his clothing and rutting like a pair of wild animals beneath the Goshimboku, his silver hair pooled out beneath them like a blanket in the moonlight. Kagome closed her eyes and let this image play out behind her eyelids. She was trembling in seconds. Was this normal, she wondered? This heat, this intensity? She's have to look it up in the baby book when she got back to the village, if they ever made it back. With each hot flash of her pulse, it seemed less likely. 

"Inuyaaaashaaaa…" she let his name slide out of her in an airy sigh. He grunted; a safe, noncommittal answer that revealed nothing. That was alright. She could play this game. The heat that raced through her veins was making her feel bold. She turned onto her side and ran a finger down his damp chest, dipping right into the loose neck of his kimono and continuing down his body.

"Kagome?" He looked confused. How could there be any confusion she wondered? Couldn't he feel her pulsing? Wasn't he able to smell her desire, as he'd once so arrogantly claimed? Why had he retrieved her hand from the inside of his shirt, and why was he frowning at her? And why oh why oh WHY wasn't he undressing her? Perhaps she was being too subtle? Well, in that case, she would just have to try something more obvious. 

Kagome pulled herself up onto her knees, then turned around to rest between his legs, facing him fully. Before he had a chance to protest, she reached up and pulled down the shoulders of his robe, exposing his broad shoulders and chest. He flinched in surprise at her forwardness, but she didn't back down. Instead, she buried her face into his neck. She kissed, sucked, and licked anything she could get and with a ferocity she'd never known before. It had been so long since she kissed him at all, and she'd never kissed him like this. She could taste the saltiness of the sweat on his skin. It made her feel lightheaded, dizzy with need. She was burning. She had to couple with him, or she'd go up in flames. 

Then, much too abruptly, she found herself being pushed away. 

"Inuyasha?" his name came out sounding like a grasping, desperate whine. Had she been on the outside looking in, she wouldn't have recognized herself. Her face was flushed and glowing, and small, dark tendrils of hair clung to her moist cheeks. She had dropped onto her hands and knees when he had risen, and she was now panting heavily, her sides heaving with the effort. 

He was panting as well, but he had turned away from her. 

"You must be hungry." he said conversationally, his voice sounding forced and unnatural.

"You don't know the half of it." she growled. 

"Let's go meet the others." 

"The others?"

"Yeah. Someone must have dinner ready by now." 

_Dinner?_ What the hell was he talking about? Then, the reality of the situation began to slowly sink in. Inuyasha had just pushed her away, rejected her. He had turned his back to her. 

__

And my god, what a sexy back! her mind screamed before it registered that he was walking away, heading back for the village.

"Wait." she called. He stopped, his back stiffening all the way up to his ears.

"Inuyasha, what are we?" she asked, her eyes dropping to stare at the dry, cracked earth beneath her hands. 

"We're…" he began, his voice cracking slightly. He paused, took a deep, solemn breath, then continued "We're late for dinner. Come on, Kagome. The pup needs meat." 


	7. Chapter 7

"Many expectant dads report that during the second trimester there is a change in the sexuality with their partners. Each expectant mom will respond differently to the hormonal changes her body is going through. For some women pregnancy can intensify their sexual arousal, while for others it appears to diminish it. As a father-to-be it is important to see that in this second trimester many of your partner's responses may be driven by the changes her body and hormones are putting her through. At this point in the pregnancy you may begin to feel concerned about how your relationship with your partner is fluctuating. You may begin to notice how the routines you have taken for granted are changing. If you both used to enjoy going out weekend evenings and now she feels too fatigued, how are you going to respond? You may feel disappointed to discover the partner you felt you knew and understood and depended on is no longer herself. Every couple experiences these changes differently. Try and talk with your partner about the changes your feel the relationship is going. Try and be understanding with each other about all the happiness, guilt, anticipation, ambivalence and frustration that is now going on in your lives. Establishing a pattern of "open communication" with your partner at this time will allow the both of you to move toward the birth in a more supportive and positive relationship." 

Pregnant Fathers: The Second Trimester  
by Bruce Linton, Ph.D. 

Part 7

The sun had set completely by the time they reached the outskirts of the village. The birds had silenced, flying home to their roosts for the night, only to be replaced by the singing of the crickets. The other, less pleasant insects were also making their presence known to those unfortunate enough to remain out of doors; the gnats, mosquitoes and the Japanese beetles were all buzzing lazily around the unprotected heads of any weary travelers still heading for home. Kagome walked a few paces behind Inuyasha, her eyes trained on the ground in front of her, keeping a sharp eye out for any sudden bumps or dips in the road. The last thing that she needed was to miss a loose rock or branch in the darkness and trip. Inuyasha already kept her on a pretty tight leash. If he suspected that her lack of night-vision was going to start posing possible threats to herself and the pup, she'd never be allowed out of doors after sunset again, with or without his company. Besides, it was better than staring mutely at the back of his head.

Not that he had offered anything in the way of conversation. In fact, he hadn't spoken two words to her since they'd left the Goshimboku. She found it disheartening, but not at all surprising. This was his way. Something she had done had made him feel uncomfortable, and he'd closed himself off. It wasn't the first time, and by the gods, it wouldn't be the last. She just wished she knew what exactly his problem was. He had agreed to stay with her, of his own free will. She hadn't sensed any desire, nor struggle within him to leave, and she was usually fairly good at interpreting his moods. In all fairness, once he had made the decision, he had been very attentive to her, if not overly so. She could barely walk from one side of the room to another without him following on her heels. But that seemed a small comfort when they didn't even share a bed, as lovers or otherwise. Her skin was forgetting the graze of his fangs against her throat, and what his fingers had felt like, exploring her body in the dark. The thought of those long-lost encounters in the woods lead her back to that burning question she had asked beneath the Goshimboku.

_What was she to him?_

She had asked him once about Kikyo. It had been right after that binding incident with Miroku, when they had sat together on the floor of Kaede's hut, embracing. She'd had to coax it out of him, but he'd finally told her that the next time he and the wandering miko should meet, he would sever his ties. It was the least he could do, he had said. For the pup. Yes, no one could fault him on owning up to his responsibly, but as she was coming to realize, he had never set any guidelines for what _their_ relationship was to be. Oh, she knew that he cared for her, that he had for quite a long time. She knew that he had lusted after her body, and in her weakness, her desire to be loved in return, she had given herself to him. Looking back now, she realized that it may have been a mistake. Still, she knew that if she had it to do all over again, she could never refused him. But then, that didn't seem to be an issue anymore. She was the one who being refused. 

When they passed silently into the village, Kagome finally looked up, taking in the modest huts with their thatched roofs and the reed curtains in their doorways. She and Inuyasha did not have a place amongst these huts. No thatched roof, no doorway to call their own, and left up to him, they never would. He didn't like being indoors. She wondered what would become of them when the baby was born. They couldn't stay on in Kaede's cramped little hut indefinitely. Even if she could somehow manage to convince the village men to build her a hut of her own, which was doubtful, considering the general animosity towards herself and her unborn as of late, Inuyasha would not stay there. It made her uneasy, knowing that their future was so uncertain. 

"Soya, Miki, Hisaki! Come inside before the bakemono gets you!" An older, haggard-looking woman called out from the cheerfully lit doorway of her home into the dark street. Kagome felt a stab of envy. Judging by the lines on her face, the woman's life could not have been an easy one, but at least she knew her place in the world. Moments later, a small passel of urchins ran noisily by them; presumably Soya, Miki and Hisaki, anxious to escape the jaws of the imaginary bakemono for another night. Careless as children often are, the tallest boy accidentally sideswiped Kagome as they ran by, knocking her with his elbow. Startled, she let out a small cry and stumbled forward into Inuyasha's back. Within seconds, the boy had been dragged back by his shirt.

"G-gomen, Miko-sama!" the child exclaimed, his voice trembling almost as much as his knees.

"Next time watch where you're going, kid!" Inuyasha growled. When he bore his fangs, the terrified adolescent looked a few seconds away from wetting his pants right there in the street.

"Inuyasha, please, it was an accident." Kagome said, shushing him. She turned to the boy, her face softening. "It's alright, you didn't hurt me. Don't mind Inuyasha, he's just worried about the ba-"

"Gomen, Miko-sama!" the boy cried again, then turned on his heels and ran to where his brothers stood huddled together, as if awaiting their execution. Together, the three boys scrambled into the house as if their very lives depended on closing that reed curtain between themselves and the outside world.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome scolded, rearing on the hanyou, but she stopped cold when she caught the look on his face. 

"It's not like I was going to hurt him or anything." he said quietly, staring at the doorway where the reed curtain was still swinging chaotically. "I was just telling him to be more careful. He could have hurt you, running around like that." Kagome reached out, taking his hand. 

_Oh_ _Inuyasha… For all your talk about having to be tough, deep down it still bothers you, doesn't it? Especially when it's a child. _

"It's to be expected, I'm afraid." a familiar voice hailed them from the side of the road. 

"Kaede-bachan." Kagome exclaimed, turning to greet the elderly miko.

"Don't forget that in the last fifty years, you've become somewhat of a legend around here. In fact, before you were unsealed, the mothers of this village used to call to their children each night 'Come inside before _Inuyasha_ gets you.'" 

"Oi, Kaede-baba!" Inuyasha interrupted loudly, the passing moment of vulnerability apparently forgotten. "What's an old crone like you doing out this late?"

"_Inuyasha!_" Kagome hissed, pinching his arm. 

"I am just now coming back from a meeting with the headman and the village elders." Kaede explained patiently.

"Oh yeah? What's all the excitement about? Did they finally find a cure for senility?"

"_Inuyasha_!"

"Ow! Knock it off bitch, that hurts!"

"Actually, we were discussing-" But before Kaede could finish, the reed curtain on her own hut was pulled back, and Sango emerged, peering out into the darkness.

"There you are!" she cried, waving them toward her impatiently. "We were starting to worry. Come inside, dinner's ready."

"Yes Kagome-sama," Miroku called merrily, appearing suddenly from behind Sango. "Hurry up and come inside before Inuyasha gets you!"

"_Houshi-sama!_" Sango hissed, pushing him back inside.

"Those two…" Inuyasha growled, his shoulders hunching up. "I think they were listening at the door that whole time!"

"Really? What clued you in?" Kagome asked blandly, following him into the hut.

"It's about time!" Sango scolded as they stepped inside and found their seats. "It was beginning to get cold." When Inuyasha sat next to Kagome instead of directly across from her as was their usual arrangement, she couldn't help but wonder if he was trying to avoid her eyes. 

"Here you go." Sango continued, handing them each a bowl filled with some sort of steaming meat stew.

"You didn't cook this, did you?" Inuyasha asked, eyeing his bowl warily. Kagome elbowed him in the ribs, sending a big glob of stew sloshing over the side of his bowl and into his lap. Apparently, sitting next to him was not without it's advantages.

"No…" Sango said evenly, gritting her teeth as she attempted to let the comment slide. "Rest assured that it was made by Houshi-sama."

"That's a relief." Inuyasha muttered, poking at a lump of meat experimentally with his chopsticks. "It's a good thing you're such a great fighter Sango, 'cause you're totally useless when it come to food."

"It smells wonderful, Miroku-sama." Kagome said quickly, trying to draw the attention away from Inuyasha. Sango wouldn't understand, and gods help him, he probably thought that he had just paid her a compliment.

"Do you think so? Let me know if you like it. I found these wonderful herbs about a half mile from the village-"

"This is what you did with your day?" Inuyasha snorted in disgust. "Napped under a tree and gathered herbs? You're becoming much too comfortable here, Miroku." 

"Yes, well." Miroku began hesitantly, casting a meaningful glance at Inuyasha. "I've had a lot of free time on my hands over the last few months, and nothing worthwhile with which to fill it."

"Yes. The girls from the village have been suggesting that you fill those empty hands with something, houshi-sama, and quickly." Sango muttered snidely, her face hidden behind her bowl. 

"I've been trying to." Miroku replied innocently.

"Something _else_, houshi-sama. Really, they're starting to complain."

"That reminds me," Kaede said quietly, edging her way into the conversation. "I went to meet with the village elders this evening. They were asking about you. All of you. They want to know how long you intend to stay."

"What is that, some kind of a threat?" Inuyasha demanded, dropping his chopsticks to the floor with an unsettling _clack_. "We'll stay as long as we damn well please, and not a second less! And I'd love to see them try to do anything about it!"

"Calm down, Inuyasha. They have no intention of trying to chase you out, not after everything you've done to protect this village." Kaede sighed, pausing to choose her next words carefully. "What it comes down to is that they're not used to you being around all the time. Normally, you stay for maybe a few days at most, and then you're back on the road. It's usually not an issue, but what with Inuyasha's constant presence over the last few months, Kagome's unusual pregnancy and the monk's wandering hands, you're making them, well…nervous."

"We make them nervous?!" Inuyasha fumed, leaning forward onto his palms to yell in the old hag's face. "What about the way their fucking women have been treating Kagome? Like she's a gaddamn disease or something?!" 

"Inuyasha, don't." Kagome implored, pulling on his sleeve as she tried to get him to sit back down. "I'm fine! Tough, remember?" Miroku coughed into his fist, calling back their attention.

"It's just as well. We've needed to adress this subject for some time." He paused, looking at Sango for confirmation. When she nodded, he began in earnest. 

"Sango and I have been talking about this together for awhile now, and we feel that it's best that we pick up where we left off, and soon. I don't think we need to remind anyone here that the shards of the shikon no tama are still out there, as is Naraku. I admit that it's been nice to take a break, but I fear that to delay any further would be a waste of precious time; time in which our enemy will be gaining strength, and time that I, personally, cannot afford." Kagome caught the waver in his voice right at the very end. She wondered if anyone else had noticed it. She wondered if he realized that the fingers on his sealed hand were twitching restlessly. 

"Look Miroku, I know how you feel!" Inuyasha said forcefully, his eyes radiating intensely. "I'm itching to get back out there! But I won't risk Kagome, and without her…" Inuyasha trailed off, leaving the unspoken to hang in the air. They all knew. He didn't feel that he needed to say it. Shippou, on the other hand, apparently did. 

"Without Kagome, Inuyasha's no good." he piped up helpfully. This was immediately followed by a heavy silence, in which the kitsune waited with his face scrunched up, his head tingling in horrible anticipation of Inuyasha's descending fist. When the blow never arrived, he almost felt cheated. Almost; not enough to call attention to it. 

Inuyasha had simply let it go. The fact was that Shippou was right, and even he knew it. 

__

Ah yes, Inuyasha's shard detector. Kagome thought ruefully. _Chalk that up as one more thing that I am not. Put it right up there along with virgin, lover and resident of the twentieth century._

"I'm sorry." she whispered into the weighty silence. "I'm so sorry, everyone. I never meant for this to happen. I never wanted to be a burden."

"No, Kagome-chan, you're not." Sango said quietly, leaning over to pat her hand comfortingly. "It's not your fault."

"Inuyasha, we knew that you would feel this way." Miroku said in a low voice, pulling the hanyou aside. "That is why Sango and I have decided to go alone."

"Alone?!" Inuyasha hissed, "What are you, crazy? I mean, you're both good fighters, but come on! You don't stand a chance against Naraku without me! And even if you did, I'm going to be the one to kill that bastard, and no one else!" Miroku smiled tolerantly at the hanyou's scowling face. 

"We also knew that you would say that. This is what we've come up with. Sango and I will be leaving tonight, right after dinner-"

"Tonight?! Fuck! When were you planning on telling us?"

"I'm telling you now. You see why I spent the day napping? At any rate, with the days being as unbearably hot as they've been this season, it will be much faster and easier if we travel at night. We're also taking Kirara with us, and that will help speed things up immensely. We plan to scout around, doing whatever we can to collect shards and information. I promise you, if we discover anything of great importance, we'll come right back and you'll be the first to know. It's not a perfect plan, but it's the best we could come up with. What do you think?" Inuyasha took a minute to consider everything Miroku had just told him while he gnawed on his bottom lip. 

"I don't like it." he said finally, "But then I don't see that we have any other choice."

Sango and Miroku were as good as their word. Not long after the bowls from the evening meal had been cleared away, Sango had donned her armour and they were saying their goodbyes. 

"Be careful, Sango-chan." Kagome whispered into the taijiya's ear, hugging her awkwardly over the modest swell of her belly.

"We'll be back soon," Sango promised, "you'll see. Houshi-sama and I will both be too worried about you and the baby to stay away for very long."

"That's sweet, but I'll be fine, really." Kagome pulled away, feeling a light tap on her shoulder.

"Kagome-sama?"

"Take care, Miroku-sama!" she sighed, hugging the monk as well. Hell, she was pregnant and emotional. She was entitled.

"I will, rest assured."

"And behave yourself. Don't make Sango have to hurt you."

"Kagome-sama, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." he said incredulously, then dropped his voice down to a whisper and added "But I'll keep that in mind." He then released her, and without so much as a farewell grope, he climbed up behind Sango onto Kirara's back. 

"Remember," Inuyasha said firmly, "Anything big, and you come back and tell me. Don't do anything stupid. Especially you, bouzu!" he called as Kirara took to the sky. "And keep your goddamn hands to yourself, you fucking letch!"

"I'm sorry Inuyasha, I can't hear you!" Miroku called back as Kirara flew higher. "Good-bye!"

Inuyasha watched their departure longingly, until they were completely out of sight, fading into the surrounding darkness. Kagome came up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha."

"Don't be stupid, Kagome. It's not your fault. And I'm not the only one who's had to make sacrifices." 

They stood out there, side by side, watching the sky until the teeming insects became too much and drove them back inside. 

Later that evening, as Kagome lay stretched out on her futon, she finally had a chance to go over the days events in her head and pick them apart rationally. When all of the other worries had been dealt with and neatly laid aside, she found herself returning again and again to what had taken place between herself and Inuyasha beneath the Goshimboku. Or rather, what had _not_ taken place. Rolling over onto her side, she watched him sleep, propped up against the wall, Tetsaiga resting over his shoulder. As she stared at his unconscious face, his unguarded features, that familiar stirring made it's presence known once more. 

So what was his problem, anyway? He'd never reacted like that between the time when they'd first slept together and when he'd learned of the baby. Was it guilt? Was he punishing himself for 'ruining her life'? Or maybe he was punishing her, for ruining his? Was he thinking that he'd made a mistake? That by refusing her advances now, he was somehow taking it back? Maybe he simply loved Kikyo more, and that was all there was to it. Maybe he was only staying with her because of the baby. Then there was always the possibility that he just didn't find her very attractive anymore. She _was _roughly the size of a Buick. 

Still, she hadn't imagined that heavy panting… She closed her eyes and pictured him again, the way he'd looked after he'd pushed her away. He certainly hadn't _looked _unwilling. The heavy breathing, the slumped shoulders, and his ears had been twitching, now that she really tried to recall the image in her mind. So just why, exactly, _had _he pushed her away? That's what she had to figure out.

She was going to have to experiment. 


	8. Chapter 8 limey content

Part 8

The important thing to remember was that it was just like any other experiment. If she was going to successfully gather the information that she needed, then she couldn't let her personal feelings get in the way. She would have to be hard, thorough, and completely analytical about the entire process, from start to finish. This was not some weepy-eyed lovers' game. She had been burned by a fire known only to hormonal women in their second trimester and nymphomaniacs, and he had pushed her away. 

_All's fair in love and war,_ she mused, her hands moving quickly and silently in the dark as she lay upon the futon, working out the knots in her sleeping robe. 

This was war.

~

Inuyasha laid on his back, his arms folded beneath his head as he stared up at the early morning sky. He'd been up at first light, and done a quick sweep of the area, checking carefully for any nasty little intruders. It had been, by far, a very uneventful run. He'd caught scent of a badger at one point, but that had been about it. It hadn't even been a badger youkai, so really, it had posed no threat at all. He hadn't had to fight anything real in weeks. Sure, the allure of the shikon no kakera had occasionally drawn out the usual riff-raff, but nothing worth telling about. If this kept up much longer, he was going to start putting on weight.

With a twinge of envy, he wondered how Miroku and Sango were doing. They were probably settling down to sleep right about now. Had they gotten very far? 

_Knowing their luck, they've probably had to fight off a dozen minor youkai already…_ he thought with a wistful sigh, and began to kick one of his legs restlessly. How he wished he was there. He missed being on the road. This safe, easy village life had left him with no outlet for his pent-up frustrations and an acute case of wanderlust. _Gods how he wanted to tear into something with his claws! _And the way Kagome had acted last night was not helping matters any. 

Inuyasha settled further into the roof's thatching, pivoting his ears slightly so that he would catch any little noises that might indicate that she had awakened in the room beneath his back. The ancient miko had also left at dawn, going off to do whatever it was that ancient mikos do, and with Miroku, Sango and Kirara gone, it was just he, Shippou, and Kagome. 

Actually, that wasn't entirely accurate, seeing as how the runt had made a habit of becoming scarce lately during daylight hours. There were a few circulating theories on that one. Kagome blamed herself, citing several instances when she'd been short tempered with the kit. It had been happening more often as the days progressed, she claimed, as she was growing increasingly more uncomfortable. Of course, Kagome was likely to blame herself for anything these days. Personally, he thought that Miroku's observations were probably closer to the truth. Shippou had recently been seen by the monk in the company of a rather large group of little girls. Apparently, the kitsune had only just discovered that he was adorable.

So if the runt was gone for the day, that left just he and Kagome. Inuyasha slowly let out a long sigh, closing his eyes against the sun as it rose steadily on the horizon. A completely unwelcome image sprang up behind his closed lids, and his next breath caught in his throat. 

No, Kagome was not helping at all. 

What he needed was a distraction. Maybe they could go on one of those picnics that she seemed to like so much. The promise of food never raised any objections from him, and if the past week was any indication, then today was bound to be sunny. Maybe she'd like to go down to the river again, only they'd be alone this time, without the other women there to make her feel uncomfortable. Hell, maybe he could go in with her. That ice-cold water would probably feel really good if the day proved to be another scorcher. The thought made him smile faintly in anticipation. Just he and Kagome and the cold water…Just he and Kagome…in the cold water…Kagome. In cold water. 

Shit.

Forget the river, they were going on a picnic.

~

From several feet below, he heard a tiny groan and the rustling of blankets. She was up. Finally. Taking a moment to compose himself, he dropped down off the roof and slipped in quietly through the door, trying not to let too much sunlight in with him. He wasn't exactly sure when he'd started worrying about shit like that, but it seemed pointless to fight it now. Besides, if there was one thing he'd learned (or rather, had beaten into him) since this whole mess had started, it was that keeping the mother of his pup as happy as possible was in his best interests; especially considering her tendency to floor him when she wasn't. As it turned out, his precautions hadn't been necessary. She had been lying awake, watching the door and waiting for him. 

"So, you're finally awake." he chided gruffly. "I was beginning to wonder if you were planning to stay in bed all day."

"Mmmmmm…" Kagome moaned, stretching it out just to the point were it began to sound indescent. "Sounds wonderful. Is that an offer?"

"Heh." It was a very soft, hesitant noise that wasn't exactly a laugh, but more like a breath that he was trying to pass off as one. Kagome studied his face through slitted eyes as she faked a long, languid yawn. He looked restless. Slowly, she rolled onto her back, stretching her arms high above her head. Then, as she pushed herself up into a sitting position, resting back on her palms, her robes fell open and slid down her shoulders, revealing quite a lot. 

The details of next few seconds were of critical importance. Inuyasha made small choking noises in the back of his throat, while his eyes widened to almost comic proportions. His face was flushed, and she couldn't be sure at that distance, but she could swear that he was trembling.

"Kagome…"

_Yes, definitely trembling._

"Yes, Inuyasha?" she drawled innocently, her voice dripping with implicit promises.

"Why don't you get dressed?" he said quickly, tearing his eyes away. "I'll be waiting outside." Not bothering to wait around for a response, he shot out the door like a projectile.

_Damn._

Still, it hadn't been a fruitless experiment she decided as she pulled her clothing on a few minutes later. The results had been interesting to say the least, if a bit inconclusive.

_I'm sorry,_ _Sir, but I'm afraid we're going to have to run a few more tests…_

Meanwhile, Inuyasha stood breathless on the other side of the door, trying to hold himself together. 

_Damn that Shippou!_ he silently cursed. _Where the hell is that runt now that I really need him?_

~

Kagome smiled to herself as she watched him bound to the other end of the meadow, giving the area a quick once-over to be sure that it was safe for her. He really was an excellent protector and provider, everything an ideal husband in the sengoku jidai should be, with a few fuzzy benefits. She supposed that if she were pressed to define their relationship, marriage would come closest. _Mates_, Inuyasha would more than likely say. Shouldn't that have made her happy? Wasn't that the goal, every girl's dream?

No, she realized sadly. No more than any girl dreams of an arranged marriage or a shotgun wedding. The goal was love, plain and simple. The goal was to be chosen, not taken on out of obligation. He had bound himself to stay by her side from now on, to sever his ties to the long-dead miko who had held his heart, but until Kagome could lay claim to that heart as well as his body, Kikyo still won. 

Kagome shook such morbid thoughts away, letting them sink into the deeper recesses of her subconscious to come back later and haunt her in her weaker moments. There was no point in entertaining such thoughts today. Today had been reserved for another agenda. Afterall, what small comfort could she take in being Inuyasha's mate if there was no actual _mating _going on? She wasn't still so naïve as to believe that sex would eventually lead to love, but with the way she'd been feeling lately, she wasn't really sure that she cared. He'd caused this volatile reaction inside of her body by putting the baby there in the first place, and as far as she was concerned, it was his responsibility to set things right. 

She forced a smile back onto her face as he returned to her, taking one end of the blanket in hand and helping her to spread it out in the grass beneath the shade of an old beech tree. He'd thought she might like to go on a picnic, or so he'd said. She wasn't exactly sure how it had become twisted around in his brain that _she_ was the one who loved picnics, seeing as how his two favorite pastimes were eating and sitting outdoors, but she didn't mind. If he considered it unmanly to admit to such things and had to project his love of picnics onto her, well, let him. She was just happy that they were alone in such a secluded spot. It would make her job that much easier.

"So what's for lunch?" he asked eagerly, dropping to his knees beside her as she unwrapped the boxed lunch from within the folds of the white cloth napkin. Before opening the box itself however, she stood up, excused herself, and walked away toward the other end of the meadow. 

"Where are you going?" he called after her, "Aren't we gonna eat?"

"Hold on a minute. I want to see if there are any fresh herbs."

"C'mon Kagome, I don't care about that stuff!" he whined in exasperation. "I'm sure it's fine the way it is, come back!"

"Well, you may not care but I do! Try to have a little patience for crying out loud. You won't starve to death if you have to wait a couple of minutes!"

"You never know, I just might." he grumbled, casting a longing look at the unopened box that sat temptingly close to his right knee. 

"Just hold on, I think I see…Oh! Come here! Look what I've found!" Kagome called suddenly, feigning excitement rather convincingly. Inuyasha sighed irratablyand rose to his feet, crossing the glade in two short hops, then walking the remaining few steps to come up beside the kneeling girl. 

"What am I looking at?" he asked impatiently. Kagome latched on to his wrist and pulled him down to kneel beside her. Then, leaning down onto her hands and knees, she began to rattle off the names of various herbs (some real, some made up right there on the spot), all the while gently bumping her hips ever so subtly and suggestively into his side.

"This is brownwort, it's good for making a healing poultice that's been known to cure chest rashes. Here's some chamomile, that's good in tea… Ah, and here's some viagrus root." She looked him up and down from over her shoulder, as if summing him up. "That one's good for impotence." 

Inuyasha's eyes widened slightly and he seemed to be trying to swallow something very large. Encouraged, Kagome leaned further down until she was resting on her forearms, then rocked her hips to the side until they bumped him again, only a little more forcefully this time.

"Hmmm…what's that?" she said softly, keeping up the pretense. 

"Kagome…" he whimpered, his voice raw. She felt a subtle shifting as he moved behind her. Slowly and gently, his hands came to rest on either side of her lightly swaying hips.

_That's it! Yes, yes, yes!_

"Kagome."

"Hm?" The hands on her hips slid forward until they were gripping her shoulders, firmly drawing her up to sit back on her knees.

"You shouldn't be worrying about that stuff." he said in a hoarse whisper. "We're here to relax."

_No, no, no! Damn it!_

"Come on, let's eat." he said hastily, jumping back up to his feet and heading off across the meadow to the blanket. Kagome exhaled noisily, balling her hands into tight little fists that she rested on either knee. 

"The pup needs meat, Kagome! Let's go eat, Kagome!" she muttered poisonously under her breath, clenching her fists even tighter as one dark eyebrow shot up and began to twitch sporadically.

Her so-called mate was proving to be one tough nut to crack. 

~

Lunch was a simple affair. What transpired is hardly worth mentioning, with the exception of one notable incident in which Kagome dropped a dumpling down the front of her robe and asked Inuyasha to retrieve it, as both of her hands were conveniently full at the time. The poor boy almost choked on his fishcake. 

Afterward, the sat together in the shade, alternately thinking up meaningless things to say to one another. The heat of the day eventually lulled Kagome into a kind of stupor, and she laid aside her master plan temporarily in favor of a mid-afternoon nap. Inuyasha took the opportunity to scout the area again and get in a bit of running, though he never strayed very far. He returned sometime later to watch over her, marveling at how much sleep a pregnant bitch seemed to need. She looked very, very pretty when she was sleeping. It had always been his favorite state of being for Kagome, and not only because she couldn't argue with him when she was asleep. He loved how peaceful she looked, like she had no fear of suddenly waking up to a nasty surprise. 

_Which is the way it should be. _he thought with a fierce surge of protectiveness.He would never let anything happen to her. To _them_, he corrected, placing his palm flat against the small curve of her abdomen; though the notion of 'them' was still a fairly new and abstract concept for him. Rationally, he knew that there was a pup inside of Kagome. His life had been turned completely upside down, so how could he not be aware? Still, at times it didn't seem exactly _real_. Other than the slight physical changes in his mate, there was nothing tangible, nothing that he could relate to. Kagome swore up and down that she occasionally felt the tiny life moving around inside of her, so maybe it seemed more real to her. 

_It must be a helluva thing,_ he mused, beginning to move his hand in small, slow circles over her small belly. His gentle ministrations gradually pulled Kagome from her slumber, and within a few minutes, her eyelashes fluttered open. 

"How long have I been asleep?" she murmured, smiling up at him before her face broke into a cavernous yawn. 

"Too long. We need to start heading back before-" Inuyasha stopped abruptly, his eyebrows drawing together darkly in wary confusion.

"What?" Kagome asked in alarm. "What's wrong?"

"I don't…" he began uncertainly, looking down at the hand resting on her stomach. A few seconds later, Kagome felt the familiar fluttering sensation that she had come to realize was the baby shifting around; This coincided with Inuyasha's eyes widening in amazement. 

"Holy shit." he exclaimed, his eyes darting from his hand to her eyes, seeking confirmation. "Kagome did you feel that?" 

"For almost a month now." she replied. Hot tears began to pool in her eyes as she reached up to cover his hand with her own.

"That's the pup!" he yelped in disbelief, his other hand reaching down to splay across her abdomen, belatedly joining the first. "Kagome, that was the pup."

"Yes, I know." she said gently, patting his hand. 

"He's really in there."

"Yes." she laughed as the tears finally spilled over. Inuyasha seemed reluctant to removed his hands from her body, but he did shift them over slightly so that he could lean down and place an ear against her belly.

"Hear anything good?" she asked after a few seconds. He shushed her with an impatient scowl and went back to listening as she tried not to chuckle at the very serious expression on his face.

"I can't hear anything yet." he said finally, sighing in mild frustration as he raised his head. "It's all mixed up with your heartbeat."

"Maybe later?" she offered helpfully. 

"Maybe." 

"If you're finished now, could you help me up?" she asked, smiling as she wiped away the few stray tears. "My back's starting to ache in this position." Inuyasha took her hand, placing his other behind her back for support, and lifted her up. They sat together, regarding one another quietly for a long while as they basked in the afterglow of the moment. He was the first one to come up with something meaningful to say. 

"So this is really going to happen." She nodded solemnly.

"Yes. Sometime in the fall."

"Before winter. That's something anyway." 

"You know," Kagome began hesitantly, "we've never really talked about what's going to happen afterwards." Inuyasha sighed. 

"We can't make plans, Kagome. You know that. I have no idea what's going to happen between now and then."

"I know," she said unhappily. "But I get so nervous! Everything's uncertain, and I hate not knowing what's going to become of me and the baby when this is all over."

"You'll be fine, Kagome. You'll both be fine. I'd never let anything happen to you, you know that."  
"It's not only that." she admitted softly, looking up into the warm, glowing amber of his eyes. "I don't even know where I fit into your life anymore."

"What are talking about?" he demanded, frowning. "I said that I would stay!"

"But what does that _mean_?" she pleaded, "What am I to you? If I'm simply to be the mother of your child, then that's what I'll be, but I need to know where we stand! I can't keep going on like this. I need to be certain of _something_!" 

Inuyasha blinked. There was a full beat of silence, and before Kagome knew what was happening, he had closed the distance between them. A startled gasp was all that she managed before his mouth closed over hers. Their lips met and parted, his tongue sliding easily into her mouth in search of her own. Kagome's body responded immediately, and the slow fire that had been building up inside of her over the past few days roared to the surface, searing her skin. She could have screamed for joy. This was the right answer. This was _exactly _what she needed.

His hands slid down her shoulders and continued down her arms, stopping to rest at her elbows. He gripped her arms firmly, right above the joint and pulled her deeper into the kiss, consuming her lips hungrily. Kagome's hands slithered up his narrow hips to his waist, where her fingers began working blindly, tugging at the knot of his hakama urgently. She'd even managed to loosen the first knot before he startled, grabbing her hands and pulling them away. 

"Wait." he gasped, breaking the kiss. 

Kagome wanted to howl her frustration at the loss of his mouth. Instead, she bit down hard on her bottom lip, tensing against the building torrents of rage. 

"Inuyasha," she seethed through her clenched jaws, eyes flashing like bolts heat lightning. "I have had it with this. What the hell is wrong with you?"

He floundered a few seconds, staring at her helplessly, then dropped his hands to rest against the sides of her belly. 

"Kagome," he said finally, his gaze fixed pointedly on her abdomen rather than her eyes. "If I can feel him, can he feel me?" 

Kagome stared at him incredulously, her mouth agape.

"That's what you've been worried about?" 

He shrugged noncommittally, but Kagome persisted.

"That's it, isn't it? You've been afraid of the baby! I've been worried this whole time…" she trailed off, shaking her head in disbelief. "I really wish you had said something. You could have saved us both a lot of time and frustration."

"I'm not a gentle person, Kagome. What if I do something wrong? What if I hurt him?" 

"Inuyasha, that's ridiculous." she snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "You can't hurt him."

"I'm not so sure." 

"Well _I _am! The female body was designed for this sort of thing, you know, and if you won't take my word for it, I have a book back at the hut. I can show you."

"From your time?" he asked, his voice pitching up hopefully. Kagome nodded.

"This book says it's ok?"

"More than ok." she asserted. "And it's written by doctors." 

"Doctors…and they know what they're talking about?"

"Yes," she huffed, becoming more agitated with each passing second, "they would be the _experts_." A funny, indiscernible looked passed over his face as he considered things, before he turned back to regard Kagome once more. 

"So what you're saying is that right now we could be-"

"Yes." she hissed. 

"And last night-"

"YES!" she hollered impatiently. 

A wicked grin spread over his face.

"Really?" He pushed her down onto the blanket, spreading her legs apart with his knee. Kneeling over her, he deftly loosened the knot of his hakama with one hand, while his other worked with Kagome's in ridding herself of all burdensome clothing.

"Thank god." he growled eagerly, dropping his hips to let her soft thighs gently cradle his naked flesh. "I don't think I could have lasted another five months." 


	9. Chapter 9 limey content

Part 9

"Houshi-samaaa…" Sango ground out in warning as Miroku rested his head against the back of her shoulder. Not two days, not _two days_ had they been out patrolling and already the licentious monk was pushing his luck. She should have realized that his promise to put a reign on this sort of behavior for the duration of their journey would eventually prove too much for him, but _not_ _forty-eight hours in_… That was a new low. Not that she thought for a second that he'd be so decent as to suffer any shame for having broken his oath. Knowing him, he was probably in the middle of congratulating himself for having lasted so long! If both of her hands hadn't been fisted tightly in Kirara's thick neck fur at that moment, she would have been tempted to clobber some humility into him, even if they were flying over a particularly rocky area at that moment. Unfortunately, as was always the case, she had to be the one to make the mature decision. While a broken wrist or blunt head trauma might make her feel temporarily vindicated, it wouldn't improve their already weakened chances of finding and retrieving any shikon shards without Kagome-chan or Inuyasha. 

Of course, it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep things in perspective the longer his head remained on her shoulder. To make matters worse, his hands, still clenching the staff that was braced across the front of her body, had slipped steadily downward until they were now almost resting upon her thighs.

"You…" she snarled, one hand releasing its hold on Kirara's mane as she shifted halfway around, preparing to strike. Yet, as the blow was about to be delivered, the sound of soft snoring caught her ear.

"Houshi-sama?" she asked, dropping her hand uncertainly. She received no response from the monk, and after a few minutes in which they flew on in unremitting silence, she began to notice the slow rise and fall of his body against her back. 

He hadn't been pressing his advantage; he'd fallen asleep. 

She considered waking him for a moment, but this idea was met with the startling image of him coming around too abruptly and falling headfirst onto the rocks below. It was strange how such a thought could change from pleasing to horrifying in a matter of seconds, all contingent upon whether or not she believed he was trying to grope her at the time. Since he hadn't done anything to deserve it this time around, she'd feel truly awful were anything bad to happen to him. They'd have to stop for today, she decided, carefully guided Kirara down into a small, sheltered grove of trees. 

"Houshi-sama." she prodded softly once they had landed, reaching back behind her to grip one of his shoulders and gently shake him. As expected, Miroku startled awake, dropping his staff in surprise and nearly toppling off the back of Kirara. Sango silently thanked the gods that she'd had enough foresite to land before waking him. He was completely disoriented, his eyes impossibly wide as he looked about frantically, trying to piece together what had happened. He looked so unlike his usual, unflappable self that she might have chuckled, had she been less annoyed. It took him a few moments to fully recover from his shock, but once he had, he gave her an apologetic smile. 

"It would appear that I fell asleep." he said contritely.

"Yes, that you did. Is this going to be a regular occurrence, Houshi-sama? I would like to think that you're taking this search a bit more seriously than that." Sango couldn't seem to keep the accusatory tone from creeping into her voice. He had caused her to worry about him. She didn't like it; didn't like the way it made her feel. She was almost disturbingly relieved to see him sitting there, completely unharmed, and that in itself was unsettling. 

"My dear Sango, the sky is light and it is almost dawn. Shouldn't we have stopped before now?" he replied, fighting to keep his tone light and easy in an effort to hide the fact that he was feeling more than slightly perturbed by her rather harsh and unfair reaction to his little nap. 

"My dear Houshi-sama," she answered mockingly, arms akimbo and planted firmly on either hip. "It's not yet morning and we are supposed to be making up for several months' lost time. I would think that you, of all people, would be anxious to cover as much ground as possible before daybreak." 

Miroku found his years spent training for the brotherhood to be immensely beneficial within those next few moments. He could see plainly that he had rattled her somehow, and that she was looking for a reason, any reason to fight him, but he'd be damned if he would be that man. He didn't want to be what she expected of him, at least not the boorish things. So rather than eagerly rising to the bait as she was anticipating, he raked his fingers through his hair and offered up a sheepish grin.

"You have been pushing us very hard the last two nights, Sango. Both Kirara and I, but also yourself. Do I flatter myself in imagining that it is because you are concerned for me?"

Sango turned immediately from his piercing blue eyes. There was a sudden, alarming tightness within her chest, and it had become very difficult to breath. 

"You're a fool if you _aren't_ concerned." she was able to manage once she had escaped his gaze and the dreadful feeling of vulnerability that had accompanied it. "So much time has been squandered that it's criminal. I swear, I could strangle him for having delayed us so long!" 

_I see_, Miroku thought to himself, regarding the outraged girl sadly, _I would not participate, and so there has been a shift in your anger._

"Sango," he said calmly, "there is nothing to be gained in trying to pin the blame on anyone. It will profit none and solve nothing. Right or wrong, what is done is done. What we must concern ourselves with now is the present." 

"Indeed." Sango said tightly, silently fuming. "A present in which you and I have been left to pick up the remaining pieces."

"It's true, what you say." Miroku sighed, bowing his head. "It seems hardly fair that it has been left up to the two of us. Nor does it seem fair that Inuyasha has been forced to stay behind, when he has as much a right to vengeance as either of us. Life is seldom fair, as you well know, my dear Sango, for if it were, your people would still be alive. Were it fair, I would not have had to learn at the callow age of six that my life expectancy was to be a third of that of any normal man. Even Kagome-sama has had to choose between being with the father of her child and being with her own people. She has had to trade a life of love and comfort that she has always known for a very uncertain future. As for Inuyasha himself, I wouldn't know where to begin… So how fair is it to blame him for the situation we now find ourselves in? This could have happened to any one of us. It could have happened to you and I, Sango, had our relationship been different." 

Miroku paused, raising his eyes to fix them on her once again, hoping that she'd return his gaze. For her part, she pretended not to notice, and continued to look away, absently stroking Kirara's head. Miroku smiled humorlessly and continued on.

"Back before we left, you told Kagome-sama that she was not to blame for any of this. You cannot honestly hold Inuyasha responsible, nor anyone but Naraku himself. I am sorry that you are angry, but this is the truth as I see it." 

"Houshi-sama," she whispered hoarsly. "for just once I wish that you'd be quiet and let me have my anger. I'm stronger, faster, smarter… I'm so much better at everything when I'm angry." 

Miroku was courteous enough to allow a full minute of silence to pass before he insinuatingly asked,

"Everything?"

"Don't start that now." Sango warned, clenching her hands into tight fists. 

"Forgive me." Miroku said, smiling broadly. "I was only trying to oblige you. You did say that you wanted to be angry."

"I must be getting tired." she sighed, reaching up to rub her forehead and temples with one hand. "For a moment there, you almost sounded charming."

"Come now, Sango. We're alone. Let's be honest with each other." he said satinly, pulling her into a one-armed embrace and resting the side of his head against her own. A loud thumping sound began to pound in Sango's ears, and it was a few seconds before she realized that it was her own heartbeat.

"…honest?" she gulped, shifting uncomfortably in his arms.

"I see no reason to pretend. Why don't we both just admit it? I'm _very_ charming." he said decisively. "To a fault."

Sango masked a rather enormous sigh of relief as one of exasperation, before she grudgingly admitted, 

"Sometimes."

"I'll take it." the monk said happily. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. What do you say, my dear taijiya? Would you care to sleep with a sometimes-charming man of the cloth?" 

"Head to toe," he assured her before she could utter a sound of protest, "and I solemnly promise not to attempt to seduce your lovely feet, as tempting as that will be."

"Houshi-sama!" she scolded, wriggling out from underneath his arm. 

"My gods woman!" he lamented, his voice full of indignant pride as he followed after her. "Even a paragon of virtue such as myself is not made of stone! One need only look to see how shapely and delicate they are. Even so, I swear to you that I will not molest so much as a single baby toe."

~

Several miles away, dawn was breaking over another sleeping pair. The early morning sun filtered through the branches of the tree beneath which they slept, creating a dappled pattern of light and shade upon the picnic blanket they had wrapped themselves within the night before. Inuyasha lay nestled against Kagome, his eyes closed. The only evidence that might suggest to any onlookers that the hanyou was not actually asleep could be found twitching restlessly atop his head. The incessant twittering of obnoxious little birds had woken him much earlier than he would have liked, but he'd remained still and silent beneath the blanket, letting her sleep. Expectant mothers need their rest, he knew, and it was the least he could do after keeping her up most of the night. Unfortunately, while he had seen fit to let her be, the ground-dwelling insects were not so kind. She had already startled a few times in her sleep, brushing away the crawly feeling of miniscule legs from various parts of her body. Whether they were real or imagined was anyone's guess, but when a big, fat Japanese beetle clambered over her ear, the day officially began. 

"Eeeeeee!" Kagome shrieked, suddenly very awake. "Inuyasha, there's a bug in my hair!" 

Inuyasha peeped one lazy eye open, while it's counterpart remained firmly closed against the dawn. He yawned loudly, the new rays of sunlight glinting off one of his long canines. 

"So?" 

"Get it out!" she squealed, smacking him furiously.

"Wimp." he grumbled, shifting himself up onto his elbows. "Hold still…" He combed his claws through the tangled nest of her hair, quickly extracting the shiny insect.

"Is it out? Is it out?" 

"Calm down, I've got it." he sighed, cupping it in the palm of one hand. "Woman'll take on an entire horde of the undead but can't stand a little bug…" Opening his fingers, he frowned down at the iridescent beetle, cradled belly-up in the center of his palm. 

"Get lost." he said, flicking the struggling insect with his thumb and forefinger. It shot off, smacking against the tree and falling to earth, momentarily stunned. When it was able to right itself again and fly away, Inuyasha barked after it,

"Let that be a lesson to you and all your friends! Stay the fuck out of Kagome's hair! Damn bugs should know better than to fuck with the mate of an Inu-hanyou…" he grumbled, worming his way back into the warm cocoon of blanket and woman. 

"You really are desperate for a confrontation, aren't you?" Kagome mumbled groggily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"You don't know the half of it!" he huffed, tossing beneath the blanket restlessly. "I don't think I've ever been this wound up."

"Well," Kagome said softly, rolling onto her side to smile at him suggestively, "at least I can think of _one_ kind of tension that isn't going to be a problem anymore, right?"

"_Right?!_" she asked again, her voice raising anxiously when he didn't respond as quickly as she would have liked.

"What?" he said absently, turning over to look at her. "Sorry, I was thinking." 

"Oh really?" Kagome teased, tracing her fingertips up the taunt lines of his stomach, all the way up to his clavicle. "Were you thinking what I'm thinking?" 

Inuyasha snorted, stopping her hand as it turned south and headed for the ticklish spot below his ribs. 

"I doubt it. _I'm_ not a raging hentai."

"I'm not a hentai, I'm hormonal." she protested, yanking her fingers out of his grasp. She didn't make a very convincing argument, however, as she began to trail tiny, open-mouthed kisses across his chest.

"From what I've seen, there doesn't appear to be much of a difference." He struggled to keep his voice steady and his breathing even as her hands wandered beneath the covers. 

"It's perfectly normal for a pregnant woman to act this way." she sighed into his neck, making the fine hairs at the back stiffen and rise, in a perfect imitation of what was going on below his waist. "The book says so."

"That's what you keep telling me." he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. 

Kagome flicked her tongue out over her lips, running it across the bobbing protrusion in his throat. 

"You didn't seem to have any trouble believing it last night…"

"After what you put me through yesterday? I would have believed anything."

"What about now?" she asked, her fingers squeezing him gently in a place that simply begged to be squeezed. She smiled at the sharp intake of breath, followed by the halting gasp as she ran the tip of her tongue from his jaw line down to his shoulder. He grunted afterward, forcing his next words out on an unsteady breath. 

"I guess I could take your word for it…" 

Grinning smugly, Kagome pushed him flat onto his back. She shifted her body over until she sat across his, straddling his waist. 

"Mmmm… How generous of you."

~

"Where were you all night? I was worried!" Shippou whined miserably, throwing himself into the young miko's arms the second that she and Inuyasha set foot into the village. 

"There, there, calm down, Shippou-chan!" Kagome soothed, rubbing her fingers in small circles against his back as she reassured the frantic kit. "Inuyasha and I decided to sleep out under the stars last night, that's all. For old time's sake." she added as an afterthought. 

"You could have at least waited for me! I would have liked to come too, you know!" he cried furiously, his bottom lip curling down into an angry pout.

"Well you weren't invited, twerp! Even if you had been, it's too late now, so what are you bothering us for? Don't you have some little girls to be pestering or something? Where are all these bishoujo I keep hearing about?" 

The kitsune turned beet-red at the hanyou's remark, but he refused to be swayed so easily from his vexation at having been left behind. 

"I know why you wanted to be alone." he muttered darkly, glaring up at Inuyasha from the safety of Kagome's arms. "You probably went into the woods and did something disgusting to her like you used to before, back when we were traveling all the time! I can smell your stupid dog breath all over her!"

"Shippou-chan!" Kagome gasped in disbelief, her cheeks growing hot.

"Shippoouu…" Inuyasha warned, raising a clawed fist, but the little fox would not be silenced until he had voiced his disapproval.

"When are you gonna quit it, huh? She's already having your stupid cub!"

An outraged snarl ripped through Inuyasha's body. In a flash, he had snatched Shippou from Kagome's arms and was holding the struggling kit up by his tail, dangling him within inches of his gleaming fangs. 

"That's enough you little shit!" 

"Kagome!" Shippou wailed, flailing his puny arms at Inuyasha's face in a desperate attempted to scratch the hanyou's eyes out with his tiny claws.

"I don't think so, Shippou-chan." the girl said gravely, folding her arms over her chest. "Not this time. Certainly not after that." 

"You hear that kid?" the hanyou growled menacingly, "You must have seriously fucked up if she's on _my_ side. Now if you want to live to see your next growth spurt, then you'd better listen to me and listen good!" 

Shippou gulped audily, his large green eyes growing impossibly larger as he twisted slowly by his tail, hanging limply from Inuyasha's right fist. Not trusting his voice at that particular moment, he declined speech and nodded up and down rapidly.

"You are going to have to learn to keep your nose and your opinions to yourself, you got that?" Inuyasha explained very slowly, a murderous glint in his eye. "What Kagome and I do or don't do is nobody's business but our own. All that you need to concern yourself with is staying the hell out of our way whenever I tell you to. Do you think you can manage that, or am I going to have to break all your legs to be sure?" 

Shippou shook his head vigorously in the negative.

"Good." Inuyasha said, releasing his hold on the kitsune's tail. Shippou fell to the ground with a soft _thunk_, landing on his backside. "Now, you want to try this again?" 

"Hello Kagome." the little fox said quickly, dropping into a polite bow. "I missed you last night, but I'm not angry anymore."

"Thank you, Shippou-chan." she said, smiling at this adorable display of manners. "I missed you, too."

"I hope you had a pleasant evening-" 

"I did, thank you." 

"-and I hope that dog breath over there didn't ruin it too much by drooling all over you!" he finished, breaking into a flat-out scramble before his lips had even finished forming the words.

"That's it!" Inuyasha roared, "All four of them! I'm breaking them all!"

"You'll have to catch me first, asshole!"

Kagome sighed quietly to herself, listening to the sounds of chaos as the boys ran amok, tearing through the village. There was the usual string of curses shouted by incensed village men as the demonic duo plowed through, upsetting their work. This was soon accompanied by the squawking of outraged poultry. She was about to give the afternoon up as a total loss and head back to the hut for a quiet read, when suddenly and unexpectedly, there sounded a loud, shrill, screeching unlike anything she'd heard since the last slumber party she'd had in the third grade. Amidst the high-pitched, feminine squealing, she could distinctly hear the sound of an enraged Inu-hanyou.

"Stop hiding behind those little girls, you coward!" This hollered demand was immediately met with violent resistance from the petite mob. 

"Go away, you big bully!" 

"Leave Shippou-chan alone!"

"Eeeeek! Kaa-chan! It's that monster!" 

But it wasn't until their tiny voices all melted together to become one long, earth-shattering wail that Kagome caught sight of Inuyasha again. He appeared to be fleeing in her direction, having abandoned his pursuit of Shippou. The chagrined, somewhat astonished expression on his face was absolutely priceless, but what caught her immediate attention was the way that he walked. He was hobbling slightly, favoring his left leg. 

"Well?" she asked expectantly, trying not to smirk.

"One of them cracked me in the shin with a shovel." he grumbled, then shot her a hate-filled look when the laughter began to bubble out of her.

"It's not funny!" he barked hotly. Kagome nodded, forcing her mirthful features into a sober mask.

"I'm sorry." she said very seriously, her voice only wavering the tiniest bit. "Are you going to be alright?" 

Unfortunately, merely asking this question prompted another eruption of irrepressible giggling.

"Cut it out!" Inuyasha screamed, his flushed face beginning to break out into a sweat. "It's pathetic! He's supposed to be a youkai, and he's hiding behind a bunch of little girls!"

"Oh dear…" Kagome gasped as she tried to reign her laughter to a stop. "Ha ha, ahhh…mmn. Sorry! I'm sorry, Inuyasha, but it's just as well. That was a bit much."

"How do you mean?" he asked, scowling at her . "He needed to be taught a lesson, didn't he?"

"He did," she agreed, "but don't you think you were being a little harsh?"

"Harsh?! Are you kidding me?" he demanded gruffly, leaning down to rub at his bruised shin. 

"You know, with the baby coming, it wouldn't be a bad idea for you to try to use a little more patience with Shippou-chan." Kagome said, her voice softening as she reached over and began to smooth out his disheveled yukata and tousled hair. 

"I was being patient!" he muttered defensively. "I didn't hit him once!" 

"Then I hope you'll use more than that when this little one finally decides to show up." Kagome sighed as she straightened his collar. Inuyasha reached up, taking her hands in his own and holding them gently by his shoulders. 

"Hey…" he said, staring straight into her eyes as his voice became low and serious, "that'll be different. This one's mine. He'll know better than to disobey his Oyajii." 

"Mm. Especially if Oyajii makes a habit of threatening to break his legs." she muttered. 

"I won't have to do that." he said sincerely. "We'll have had him right from the beginning, so he won't have any of Shippou's bad habits."

"Of course not. He'll have all of yours!" she quipped, raising her fingers to cover her lips as she rolled her eyes. "Gods help us."

"I don't know why you say shit like that. We get along alright. You certainly seemed to like me well enough this morning." He had meant it as a joke, but she wasn't smiling with him.

"Kagome?" 

"Yes, I like you." she said eventually. Her voice sounded distant, hollow. 

"What's with the sad face?" he asked, his voice edged with concern.

"It's nothing." she replied woodenly. "I'm fine. Just a little baby blues. It's normal, it'll pass."

"Hmph. More book stuff, huh?" He studied her carefully, not liking at all the way the life and color seemed to have drained from her face. He hated when she became sad like this. It made her look more like Kikyo than Kagome. 

"Yeah, more book stuff." Kagome sighed. "Listen, I think I'm going to go lie down."

"Already? But you just got up."

"I know, but I feel… tired."

Inuyasha watched helplessly as she turned away from him and headed back into the village, wondering what had just happened. He began to replay their entire conversation in his mind, breaking it apart to see if it had been something he'd said. He knew that the pup could be blamed for a great deal of her moodiness, but this had seemed different. She hadn't started crying or used the rosary on him like she usually did when she was upset with him, she had simply shut herself off. He had made that crack about them getting along, and then…nothing. No smile, no hint of embarrassment; He would even have preferred anger to the sullen, non-response that she had given him. 

_What did I say? _he pondered unhappily, wracking his brain as he followed her dusty footprints down the well-worn path to Kaede-baba's hut. It didn't occur to him that it might have been something he hadn't.


	10. Chapter 10

Part 10

As the blistering day drew to it's close, and the long shadows of the afternoon faded into the dusky gloom of twilight, Kirara stirred. Shaking off the last remnants of an overheated daze, she yawned and stretched out the aching muscles of her legs. Several nights of hard travel after months of disuse had begun to take their toll on her body, but she would press ever onward, without complaint. She had a responsibility to carry out, a job not yet finished that she was duty-bound to see through. She has forged an unshakable bond with her taijiya, this spirited descendant of her Midoriko's people, and she would stay by the girl's side in finding and destroying the Shikon no tama as she had stayed by her ancestor's when the accursed ball was created. She was a companion, a protector, a friend…

Kirara's eyes narrowed as that dark haired boy rolled over in his sleep, his gauntleted arm falling over the swell of her taijiya's hips where it began to move in idle, caressing strokes.

…and now, much to her annoyance, a chaperone. 

With a quick flash of light and the nearly silent huff of flames erupting, only to be extinguished an instant later, she transformed into the considerably larger, saber-toothed version of herself. Assuming her tiny, kitten-like state had it's advantages while they slept during the day, as the smaller body was easier to keep cool, but this form was needed for their nightly flights. 

That, and it was _very_ effective at discouraging that dark haired boy and his wandering hands.

Treading softly, Kirara padded over to where the boy and her taijiya lay sleeping; and the boy was in fact asleep, not pretending as he had in times past, though whether or not she found this comforting was hard to say. While dreaming about it was not the same as doing it consciously, it was just as inappropriate. Still, the fact that he'd been making a concerted effort since the journey had begun was not lost upon the fire youkai, so she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. She would spare him the concussion by waking him first tonight, but she planned to remind him of his promise once he was conscious, lest he should start growing forgetful as the nights progressed. 

Leaning down, she nudged his head roughly with her muzzle, knocking the bridge of his nose into the bony part of Sango's ankle. 

"Ite!" she heard him curse, immediately followed by a violent sneeze and a groan. She huffed softly in his ear, nudging him more gently the second time. 

"Kirara?" he mumbled stupidly, his eyes slowly adjusting to the newly fallen darkness. "I'm up. It's time to go?" As the boy began to shuffle about in the darkness, rising up off of his back, Kirara shoved him back down again and let loose a soft, warning growl. 

"What is it? What? What did I do now?" he gasped, his voice wavering tremulously as her mouth split open to reveal her sword-like teeth. The giant cat turned her head ever so slightly to the right, where Sango lay sleeping, supremely oblivious. Then her gaze dropped several inches downward, to where the houshi's hand lay resting in the grass, mere centimeters from the sleeping girl's bottom.

"Oh sweet, merciful Kami-sama…" Miroku whispered, his eyes widening as his body went rigid beneath the youkai's massive paws. "Whatever I have done, I swear to you that I was asleep! Please, Kirara, I haven't forgotten the details of this arrangement; Nor will I!" he added frantically as her snarling face descended on his until they were practically nose to nose, her hot breath further adding to his apprehension and discomfort.

"I'm sorry!" he whispered.

It may have been the product of his unimaginable relief when she stepped off of his chest, but he could almost believe that Kirara was smiling at him.

"I hope for your sake that you never decide to take a mate," he said grimly as he sat up and brushed himself off, "because if and when you ever do, I'm going to be there." 

Again, it was probably his imagination, but he could swear that he heard her snort through her nose.

_'Bugs.'_ he reasoned, but it made him smile. Reaching over, he gently shook the sleeping girl beside him. 

"Come Sango." he called softly, "The night awaits."

~

He had come to the hut after sunset, after finding things with which to occupy his time away from the village all afternoon. It was for her benefit, or so he told himself. 

He had run into Kaede-baba just as she was leaving in the company of an anxious-faced rice farmer, going to the other end of 'town' to assist as midwife to an unfortunate woman who was about to drop. They had exchanged a few unimportant words (though he had found himself shooting the man rather sympathetic glances), and she had left, tottering away to the lighted doorway of another hut across the dusky little village. 

He had entered the hut after that. Shippou had already fallen asleep, no doubt exhausted by his diminutive feminine gumi, but Kagome…she'd been laying awake. 

"Should I sleep outside?" he'd asked quietly, and she had said 'No,' but she hadn't looked at him directly, either. He'd headed for the corner of the room, prepared to sleep with his back against the wall, as though the past twenty-four hours had never taken place, but she'd caught hold of his leg as he'd passed by and stopped him. He had looked down and she had looked up; She had shaken her head. So he had laid down behind her, wrapping one arm protectively under her breasts and pulling her back to his chest, until they were nestled together like snow peas. He'd rested his chin against her shoulder, his warm breath playing against her cheek, and she'd let out a mournful sigh.

"I make you unhappy." he'd whispered in her ear.

"No…"

"Why Kagome?" he'd breathed, nuzzling his face into her hair and inhaling deeply. "What is it that I keep doing to make you not like me?" 

She had choked out a small whimper at that, but it was what she'd said next that had kept him awake. 

"I love you." 

He hadn't had an answer ready for that. Of course he'd known, but he'd failed to see why that should make her so upset. Maybe he was a little rough around the edges, but he wasn't that bad. He'd seen the way human males tended to treat their pregnant mates, and he had to say that given the option between them and himself, Kagome was a remarkably lucky girl. He saw to it that she was well fed, that she was as comfortable as possible at all times, and she didn't have to break her back out in the fields like the rest of the village women. He was doing a good job, a damn fine job. Except that she kept crying all the time… And 'hormones,' as she called them, or no, he felt like it was his fault, that he was letting her down somehow. 

After she'd said it, she'd started to cry again, and all he could do was hold her tightly, licking the salty tears from her cheeks until she had finally let go and gone to sleep. He'd wanted to follow, but instead he'd found himself staring at the back of her head in the darkness, a million troubling thoughts beating about his brain.

~

Kaede worked alone in the darkness, her trowel hitting the dry earth with small, sickening thuds as she went about the painful task of digging a tiny grave for the stillborn infant she had just delivered. It had been a strange and trying day, starting the eve before with the disappearance of Inuyasha and Kagome, followed by the girl's sullen return to the hut without the hanyou, and now…this sad business. 

As she stopped to rest a moment, her eyes lifted to the hazy night sky. There, circling languidly over Inuyasha no mori, she saw them. The ghostly, luminous shikigami, Kikyo-oneesama's soul catchers. A few of them were already descending toward the village. She would have to work quickly to erect a barrier. They were most likely after the soul of the infant and its mother, who also hadn't survived the difficult birth. 

As Kaede closed her eyes and bowed her head in focused prayer, she felt a forceful, unexpected gust of wind assail the side of her face. Her eyes flew open in astonishment, and she saw the indistinct form of the hanyou race by, a blur of red and silver running headlong into the forest. 

The elderly miko shook her head sadly, closing her eyes once more as she began the incantation. 

This did not bode well.

~ 

It was the smell that brought him around. He must have dozed off eventually, because otherwise it wouldn't have been able to sneak up on him as unsuspectingly as it had. He was ripped from his sleep, his heart thundering in his chest and ears, icy rivulets of sweat streaming down his back. He couldn't figure out why at first, not until he had come recognize the bittersweet smell of earth and grave. 

The time had come, he realized, and he found that despite the months of waiting, he wasn't entirely prepared for it. Unfortunately, he didn't have a choice. Taking great pains not to wake Kagome or the kit, he crawled away from them and slipped silently out the door. 

__

Following his nose, he sped through the empty streets of the village. Soon, he had left the thatched roofs and the rice paddies behind as he made his way toward the bone-eater's well. He caught sight of her soul-catchers glowing like vaporous beacons in the distance, beckoning him to her. She was waiting for him at the edge of his forest, not far from where she'd sealed him, from where she'd followed him into death over half a century past. 

"Kikyo." 

She remained as striking as she had ever been. After all that they'd been through together, all that he'd suffered at her hands, he still found himself inexplicably drawn to those same dark, haunted eyes. 

"I've been searching for you, Inuyasha. Our paths haven't crossed in such a long while that I was beginning to wonder if you were still alive." Her voice was soft and friendly when she spoke, with just a hint of mild reproach, as if she were displeased with him for having made her worry. 

"I can see now that you are." she continued, offering him a ghost of a smile as she drew nearer. "I'm glad." 

Inuyasha remained still and silent, watching the slow, graceful movements of her hand as she reached out to touch his cheek. He flinched from the contact, backing away. The hurt and confusion that he saw in her eyes made his heart sink into the pit of his stomach. 

"It's been so long since we've seen each other, Inuyasha. Don't you have anything to say to me? No kind word?"

The answer that dropped from his lips was uttered so softly that she could scarcely hear it.

"I'm sorry."

"No matter." she said leadenly, a hard glint appearing in her eyes as the wistful smile changed to a frown. "I didn't seek you out to hear pretty words. Tell me Inuyasha, why have you been hiding yourself away in this village while Naraku still draws breath? Did you not swear to kill that loathsome creature who destroyed both of our lives?" 

"I did," he answered softly, "and I will. I promise." 

"Then perhaps you can tell me why you are not out searching for him? Time is of the utmost importance; we must destroy him before he becomes too powerful." 

"I know." 

"So you say, and yet you remain in this village, accomplishing nothing. It's not like you to sit passively by while our greatest enemy is gaining strength. What has changed, Inuyasha?"

"Nothing." he murmured. The undead miko's eyes narrowed in suspicion, honing in on the waver in his voice.

"You're hiding something from me."

"No, Kikyo."

Kikyo's face softened somewhat. She reached out again, and this time succeeded in brushing her fingertips across his cheek. 

"Can it be that your heart has finally forgotten me?" she whispered. Inuyasha closed his eyes, leaning gently into the soft caress of her hand. 

"You know that isn't true, Kikyo. I could never let any part of me forget you." 

He allowed himself to be pulled down into her cold embrace, and as his arms encircled her delicate body, he heard a small, wounded voice call to him from the shadows behind them.

"Inuyasha?"


	11. Chapter 11

*Author's note* - I just want to thank everyone for the outcry of support on getting this next chapter up. You know who you are. As for the people who were rather "angry" about the way the last chapter ended and chose to express their opinions in the form of hate mail (you also know who you are), this is for you… **:p"** phhhhhhhtttttttt! 

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"If a man goes back to a woman who's hurt him once, he's a fool. If he goes back to her after she's hurt him twice, he deserves it." - Jack S. Margolis

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"Heaven has no rage, like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury, like a woman scorned." - William Congreve

"You thought that he was wanting you, but he was only wanting you to let him off the hook." - Barenaked Ladies

Part 11

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The sound of her voice drifting up from behind made his pulse quicken and the bottom fall out of his stomach. While this was happening, the blood drained from his face, leaving it a fish-belly sort of pale. 

'_Oh shit…' _

"It's that girl." Kikyo said poisonously, her eyes narrowing into thin, angry slits. He felt the long nails at the ends of her fingertips digging painfully into his arms an instant before she pushed away from him. 

"Kikyo, wait!" He tried to hold her back, but she easily slipped free of his grasp, snaking around him to stare down the unhappy girl who had discovered them together. 

"Why did you follow him here? Are you afraid to be alone in the dar-" She had started her scornful diatribe before the encroaching shadows had even allowed a clear view of the girl. What was ultimately revealed as she forged deeper into the gloom had the effect of halting her tongue in mid-sentence. 

In the silence that followed, the shikigami became more of an ominous presence, swarming restlessly above their heads in concurrence with the miko's flaring anger. For her part, Kagome seemed oblivious to the threatening change in their behavior. She looked straight past Kikyo to Inuyasha, her anguish expressed plainly in her shimmering eyes and the tremulous quivering of her voice. 

"You promised me." 

Inuyasha looked as though he'd been slapped; stunned and a little pink in the face. Incited by the pitiful sound of Kagome's voice, Kikyo began to recover from her initial shock and soon found her own once more.

"You little fool! What have you done?" she hissed, advancing on Kagome. Before anything further could be said or done on either side, Inuyasha came out of his daze and stepped neatly between the two of them. 

"Leave her alone." What had been meant as a warning had come out sounding remarkably like a plea. Kikyo turned her face up to regard the hanyou with baleful interest.

"I see." she said coldly. "Of course. It's yours." Inuyasha was becoming convinced that even the wholly sadistic mind of Naraku could not have contrived a more insidious trap than the one he now found himself within. There was no way out, and no matter what he said or did next, someone was going to get hurt. He already knew that he would; that had been a given from the start. At best, he was going to lose one of them, but there existed the very real possibility that he would lose both if he wasn't extremely careful. Starting with a deep breath, he began to awkwardly stumble his way through some sort of explanation. 

"That's the real reason why I came here. I had to tell you." His words were directed to Kikyo, but the entire time that he was speaking he shot sidelong glances at Kagome, as if he were saying it more for her benefit. This subtle interaction was not lost on the miko. She could only speculate, but judging by the girl's accusatory stance and Inuyasha's defensive behavior, perhaps the bond between her copy and the hanyou was not as strong as the girl's present condition would suggest. It was an opening, and she planned to use it to her advantage. A simple matter of divide and conquer. Folding an amused lilt into her voice, she locked hard, smiling eyes on Kagome. 

"If that is the truth Inuyasha, then why didn't you say anything until now? You had plenty of opportunities to tell me while we were alone. Why did you wait until I had to see for myself?" Kagome tried not to break beneath Kikyo's unwavering gaze, but she found it difficult to ignore the truth behind her hateful words.

"Maybe you weren't planning on telling me at all." Kikyo finished, a faint smile on her lips. Her eyes were still fixed on Kagome, and she looked very satisfied with herself. 

"No!" Inuyasha protested vehemently in his own defense. His eyes were also on Kagome, but he was shooting her another panic-filled glance. "I would have told you. I was trying to tell you." 

Kikyo clucked her tongue, a small, wet sound of disbelief. She smiled and looked away, shaking her head in a slow, almost despondent manner.

"If that is what you say… Though I suppose it hardly matters now. I see what has happened. This girl has finally managed to replace me, in all the ways that I longed for when I was alive." 

"I'm sorry, Kikyo."

"Sorry?" Her smile widened, and her eyes lit up with an unwholesome kind of merriment, the sight of which was awful. "You will be. Both of you. Yes, most decidedly." 

Inuyasha shifted his stance until he was standing directly in front of Kagome, blocking her with his body.

"I won't let you hurt them." This time he managed to force his words into something that sounded hard and determined, but his eyes still pleaded with the soulless miko, rendering them ineffectual. Kikyo laughed. It was a cold, unpleasant sound that made his hackles rise with it's implicit warning. 

"Why would I bother now? It's beneath me. Your little miko was a fool, Inuyasha." Kikyo dropped her gaze to regard Kagome, who was peeking out from behind one of Inuyasha's long red sleeves. "Did you think that you could erase everything he and I had together? Do you honestly think that _this_ is what he wants? That when he takes you on the ground like the filthy creature that you've become he's really seeing you?"

"Stop it!" Kagome whispered fiercely. She clenched her jaw, and furrowed her brow in anger, but her eyes betrayed her by filling up with unhappy tears. Kikyo's words had shaken her to the very core, and the miko knew it. Inuyasha knew it as well; he could practically taste the salt in his mouth. Groping blindly behind him, he found her arm and latched on, beginning to gently usher her away from the dark forest and it's restless apparitions. 

"Kagome and I are going to leave now," he said with a conviction that he did not feel in the slightest. "I only came here to tell you, and now you know. I can't…" he began, then thought better of it. "I _won't_ be seeing you anymore. I have to… I have a… It's my responsibility, Kikyo." he finished lamely. Kikyo eyed the hanyou with a detached sort of amusement. One of her soul-snatchers descended lazily, running the entire length of it's translucent body beneath her fingertips like an affectionate house pet. Kikyo stroked the milky, eel-like creature absently as it glided past, then turned her attention back to Inuyasha. There was a smug expression gracing her otherwise barren features, as though she were enjoying some momentous Karmatic joke at their expense. 

"Oh, we willbemeeting again, Inuyasha." she said, chuckling softly to herself. "In fact, before too long you'll come searching for me." Inuyasha made a show of shaking his head adamantly, tossing his snowy mane in frustration.

"No, Kikyo. I won't. Not this time."

"You won't have a choice!" the undead miko cried triumphantly. "That girl has been defiled. By giving herself to you, she has assured her unworthiness to possess the fragments of the jewel. That simpering_ thing_ that clings to your arm is no longer a miko, Inuyasha!" Inuyasha stared ahead blankly, his mouth moving up and down as he tried to work something out, but nothing would come. 

"I am too!" Kagome cried furiously at the miko. She tugged at Inuyasha's sleeve, trying to get him to turn around and look at her. "Inuyasha, it's not true! Nothing's changed! I'm the same as I always was!"

"You sound desperate, little girl." Kikyo said mockingly, her voice taking on a joyfully malicious quality. "Desperate enough to lie. Don't you see it now? Can't you see what you've done? In trying to replace me, you have only succeeded in ensuring my value. He needs me now more than he ever did before." 

"No!" 

"While _you,_" Kikyo continued more gently, in the patient, almost friendly manner of an elder sister who is dealing with a rather ignorant child,"you have made yourself worthless. You are of no use to him anymore, I'm afraid."

"I _am_." Kagome whispered fiercely, tears running down her cheeks.

"That's enough." Inuyasha barked softly, remembering himself. "We're finished here. Let's go, Kagome."

"Don't trouble yourselves. I will leave." Kikyo said quickly. She had seen what she had come to see, and learned a bit of useful information as well. There was no point in lingering about. "But don't attempt to lull yourself into believing that you're through with me, Inuyasha. It's only a matter of time before you realize that everything I've said is true, and when that day comes, I'll be waiting for you." Leaving her promise to hang heavily in the air between them, Kikyo turned and left, melting back into the shadows from whence she had come, her ethereal minions guiding her away through the darkness. 

As he watched her walk out of his life again, Inuyasha began to sink deeply into terrible feelings of loss and guilt. So immersed was he that a few moments had passed before he realized that Kagome had also headed off without him, leaving in the direction of the bone-eater's well.

"Kagome?" he called after her when he finally noticed her absence. "What are you doing? You're going the wrong way."

"No I'm not." She whispered mostly to herself, coming right up to the edge. Leaning over, she peered down into it's depths, her hands clenching the wooden lip, nails digging into the grain and drawing soft, damp splinters beneath them. Inuyasha approached her slowly, deliberating on what he might say next that she would want to hear.

"Kagome, I'm…"

"Sorry?" she replied dully, her eyes fixed on the murky depths of the well's interior. "Why should you be sorry? You promised that you would tell her and you did. What is there to be sorry about?"

"Ok…" Inuyasha said, eyeing her warily. "But if you really mean that, why is your voice all funny?"

"Let's just drop it." 

"Yeah, sure," he muttered with an uneasy sarcasm, "let's stop talking about it while you're halfway in the well. What are you doing Kagome?" She was silent for a long time, staring down into the well, eyes never blinking, her body never shifting it's position. She remained perched stiffly on the edge, as if she planned at any moment to lean forward and topple in headfirst. 

"I want to go home." she said finally.

"Home?" he echoed, his eyebrows drawing together in the middle of his forehead. "But I thought you said -"

"I know what I said," she interrupted, her knuckles bleeding to a lighter shade of pale as her fingers tightened against the lip of the well. "Anything would be better than this."

"I don't want you to go." he said flatly. Kagome bit her lip and sighed through her nose, slowly closing her eyes and then opening them again as she steadied her resolve.

"You don't know what you want, Inuyasha. But I do. I want my mother. I want to see my family again. I don't care if they're disappointed or angry with me, I don't think anything they could say would ever make me feel the way I feel right now."

"Well if that's all, why don't you go for visit?" he said, sounding slightly relieved. "I'll even go with you. There's nothing exciting going on over here anyway."

"No." 

"Oh yeah?" He folded his arms, scornfully quirking an eyebrow. "You're just gonna jump right in, in your condition? No fucking way Kagome! Even if you manage to get through without hurting yourself or the pup, how do you plan to climb out the other side?"

"It doesn't matter." she replied leadenly. "I'll scream until someone comes and pulls me out. They can call the fire department to come and haul me out for all I care. You're not coming with me."

"Fine," he snorted with an arrogant turn of his nose, "be a stubborn idiot! What the hell do I know? I'm just the father! Well? Don't let me stand in your way! Go. But I'll expect you back in three days, and no more!" Kagome shook her head sadly. He wasn't getting it. 

"I won't be coming back." she said softly. "If I go through, and my mother sees what's become of me, that's the end. Even if I wanted to she wouldn't allow it. I'll probably be forbidden from seeing you again as well, so please don't come looking for me." 

"Fuck _that_!" the hanyou barked incredulously, grabbing her by the arm and spinning he around to face him. "You're not going!"

"I am. I want to."

"No you don't!"

"And why not?" she moaned, looking away from him to stare down at her swollen belly with growing resentment. "You heard what she said. I'm of no use to you anymore. All I'm doing is saving us both some time and injury by going now, because the longer I stay the harder it's going to be when you finally decide to go back to her like you've wanted to all along! You can even follow her right now, if you like. She couldn't have gotten very far."

"What exactly are you accusing me of?" he demanded hotly, using the last little bit of patience he had remaining to keep from baring his teeth at her. "Because I haven't done anything wrong!"

"I'm not accusing you! I've finally realized that you're never going to come around, and I've been clinging to something that isn't real! I don't want to lie to myself anymore. I'm going back to the people who love me!"

"What about the people here who love you?" he insisted, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders. 

"Who?" she whimpered, searching his eyes in desperation. The intensity of the moment staggered him, and he floundered, failing disastrously. 

"Shippou-" As soon as the kit's name had left his mouth he knew that it had been the wrong thing to say, and it proved to be the last straw as far as Kagome was concerned, the all-deciding moment of truth.

"Let go of me!" she howled, twisting out of his arms.

"No Kagome! I -"

"Osuwari!" In almost the same instant that he hit the ground, Inuyasha began fighting against the spell. He clawed violently at the earth, pushing upward with all his strength until he felt as though his spine might crack from the strain, every fiber of his being focused on a singular idea; He was trapped, and she was leaving him. 

"KAGOME DON'T YOU DARE GO DOWN THAT WELL!" he screamed, claws digging and scraping ineffectively against the ground near his head. 

"You'll be happier." came the forced reply from an unseen mouth. "You can't keep worrying about both of us, and she's right; she came first. You don't have to worry about me anymore, I'll be alright with my family… Kikyo has no one." 

"And she'll be _useful_ to you." she added bitterly.

"What about the pup, Kagome?" he asked, pleading with the backs of her ankles. "I'm supposed to be the Oyajii! I can't be Oyajii from the other side of the well!"

The floodgates had opened before she even knew what hit her. Her legs started to shake, then buckled beneath her as she fell to her knees, still holding tenaciously to the edge of the well with her small hands, as if hanging on for dear life.

"Coward! Fucking coward!" she screamed at herself as choking sobs wracked her body. _'Get up! You can do this!'_

"Don't go Kagome! I'm trying! Haven't I been trying?"

"It shouldn't have to be that hard!" she wailed. _'It shouldn't be this hard, just do it!'_

"Kagome?!"

"I have to go. I don't belong here!" A sudden feeling of panic seized her at that moment, and the need for flight became overpowering. She pushed herself back onto her feet as nimbly as she could, then recklessly swung one leg over the edge of the well. Her hasty movements had left her unbalanced, and she began to tumble as the spell wore off, freeing the hanyou. He caught her by the wrist, then underneath the arm, pulling her out and dragging her down beneath him onto the ground. He pinned her with his body, resting his weight over her so that she couldn't move from the spot, and she cried beneath him. 

"I don't care if you belong here or not, I need you here."

"But what if she's right?" she asked weakly, barely comprehensible through her weeping. "What if I _can't_ help you anymore? I won't stay here and be a burden to you, I won't!" Inuyasha frowned. Leaning down, he brushed the hair away from her sopping face and turned her by the chin until their eyes met. 

"And what if she's wrong about you? It wouldn't be the first time, you know." Kagome turned her face away from him obstinately, but something of his argument must have gotten through, because her anguished tears began to dry out into miserable sniffling. 

"None of this matters anyway." he continued, running the flat, open palm of his hand over her abdomen. "Do you really think after all this time that the only thing I need you for are your abilities as a miko? Shit, Kagome. I thought you said you were going to be tough." Kagome sighed heavily; she was bone-weary and all cried out. 

"My heart's not that tough." she explained. "It won't take much for it to break completely." 

"I promised I'd stay. I'm staying."

"I know, but-"

"Why are you always so hard on me?"

"Why can't you…" she trailed off helplessly.

"What?! What do you want from me?"

"I… I shouldn't have to tell you!" 

"Oh I am so fucking sick of this!" he hollered, pushing himself off of her to rest on his haunches. 

"What do you mean?" she cried, struggling to sit up.

"Look," he barked, glaring down at her. "I'm not perfect! I've never been perfect and I never will be! You knew that going into this. I know these hormone-things have got you all screwed up in the head, but you can't be so far gone that you don't remember who I am or what I'm usually like! I've given up everything for this Kagome! Everything! And for what? For you to run off on me when I haven't done anything wrong? For you to shut yourself off every time I try to talk to you?"

"ME?" she screamed in furious disbelief. "You're the one who ran off to Kikyo!"

"AH HA!" he cried triumphantly, pointing a long, clawed finger at her nose. "I knew it! I knew that's what you were pissed about! Here you are giving me all this 'woe is me' crap and you're jealous!"

"I-" Kagome began indignantly, but he cut her off.

"This is so stupid, Kagome! Tell me, exactly how long was I supposed to let Kikyo loom over our heads without dealing with her? I promised you I'd tell her. How was I supposed to tell her without going to see her?" he was near laughing by the time he was finished, and Kagome was half convinced that she'd like nothing better than to test his theory about her miko powers by ripping his over-inflated head off of his shoulders. 

"What part of telling her had to involve cuddling?!" she demanded, glaring at him.

"Oi!" he barked, scowling in annoyance. "She hugged me! What the hell was I supposed to do, punch her in the face? She was the first person who ever cared about me after my mother died. You know she's important to me, but I'm here with you, aren't I? Shouldn't that count for something?"

Apparently Kagome wasn't as cried out as she had thought she was, because at that moment, her eyes started leaking again. At the first sniffle, Inuyasha scooped her into his arms, resting his chin on the crown of her head. 

"Don't cry." he pleaded softly with her. "I'm sorry I keep fucking up…but I'm trying, I really am."

"I know! I know you are! I'm sorry! I don't know what's wrong with me!" she moaned. "I've always felt a little…but NOW…I just can't seem to control myself! I don't feel like me, and I hate it! Everything feels so BIG, and it overwhelms me…" the rest was lost as she buried her face into the loose fabric of his hoari, sobbing pitifully into his chest.

"Calm down…" he whispered, trying to be reassuring. "You're still you, no matter what happens next. You're you and then some. There's…you know, extra. But that's ok. Kagome is Kagome, and that's not gonna change."


	12. Chapter 12

*Author's Note - I cannot stress enough that this chapter would not have been possible without Merith, a good friend and an invaluable Beta.

Part 12

She could have cried; it was that depressing. Every one of her answers was wrong. She had known that she would have trouble keeping up with her classmates, but _every single equation_? She was never going to get into university at this rate. It felt so unfair, like she'd been cheated. All her life she'd been taught that there were certain established facts, things that could be taken for granted because they had always been and, presumably, always would be. One plus one equals two, had _always_ equaled two, but lately, even this had changed. This was the new time, and with the new time came the new math. The new math was to blame for everything. For the new math stated now, in no uncertain terms, that one plus one equaled three. Why couldn't she seem to remember that? It changed everything. No answer from this point on would be correct unless she could learn to take that into account. One plus one equals three. 

It all seemed vaguely familiar to her, the way things kept adding up incorrectly, and it left her with an odd sense of deja vu. Hadn't she once read something similar to this? Someone had been watching, and two plus two had equaled five… 

_No, that was lit. class,_ she thought angrily, tossing her head. Different homework entirely. She didn't have time to think about lit. class; she wasn't _failing _that one. Besides, it was drivel. A ridiculous notion. Two plus two was four, everyone knew that, just like everyone knew that one plus one was three. 

Resigning herself, she returned her attention to the correct answers at the back of her math book. _Every single equation! _she thought again with a defeated sigh.

Actually, when you got right down to it, it wasn't really the new math's fault. It was Inuyasha's. If he hadn't insisted on making her flit between worlds, she would have been present for her classes, and maybe then this particular lesson wouldn't be eluding her. Ayumi's notes were practically unintelligible to begin with, and learning such a new and foreign concept second hand was proving virtually impossible. One plus one equals…three. Three…Three…Tree…Bee…Pee…Oh man. 

She really had to pee. The rest of her homework would have to wait. Closing the book, she got up and left the room, turning down the upstairs hallway that lead to the bathroom. The house was empty and silent, almost eerie in comparison to how it usually felt when her family was home. This eeriness was compounded by the fact that the hallway seemed to be shrouded in a fine, white mist, and by the time she reached the bathroom door, she couldn't remember exactly why she had come. Even so, there was a sound of light splashing on the other side of the door which piqued her curiosity, so she slid it open and slipped inside. She was enveloped by a cloud of white steam upon entering, which explained the strange mist in the hallway, at least. Someone was taking a bath. The steam began to dissipate out through the open door, and, through the lessening obscurity, Kagome tried to see just who exactly was sitting in the tub.

"Souta?"she called softly.

"No, Kagome,"a gravelly, wholly familiar male voice answered."It's me."

"Inuyasha?"she replied, somewhat startled,"what are you doing in our bathtub?"

Asthe last of the thick curtain of steam faded away, she finally caught a clear glimpse of him. His arms were folded on the edge of the tub, and atop them rested his chin. There was a wicked smirk upon his face, one she had seen before but could not place where. 

"Taking a bath,"he answered casually, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "You coming in?"

"I don't think I should,"she whispered uneasily, wringing her hands together until they were pink from the friction."What if Mama finds out?"

"What does it matter?"he asked, his smirk spreading into a playful grin. His hand disappeared inside the tub, but she could hear the patter of his hand gently striking the surface of the water as he patted the empty space beside him. "Come on… There's plenty of room."

Kagome whimpered as her resolve began to crumble. 

"She'd be so mad if she found out…" 

"Who cares? Get in, I have something I want to show you."He winked, and her face began to feel very hot.

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"Why?"shepleaded,"Why here? Why now?"

His reply was immediate and unyielding.

"Because I want you to, Kagome. Now take off your clothes."

It didn't feel right, not like this, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. Before she knew what was happening, her garments had dropped one by one onto the tiled floor and she had stepped into the tub. The water was hot, almost unbearably so, and deeper than she'd ever thought possible of their little tub. But then, the tub didn't appear to be as shallow as it had always been. When she sat down beside him, the water came almost all the way up to her neck. 

"I want you, Kagome." 

"No…"she moaned, shaking her head violently."You're just telling me what I want to hear!"

"So? It's what you want to hear, isn't it? What's the problem?"

"No…I…"

"Shhh…" he raised a long, clawed finger to his lips. "Don't say anything, just get over here."

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"Why?" 

"Because I want to fuck you, Kagome."

"But that's what I'm afraid of!" she cried, "You want to FUCK me."

"I'd say it's a little late to worry about that, Kagome." He glided through the deep water, moving steadily toward her, his eyes locked intently on her mouth. She backed away from him until her body was pressed against cool porcelain. His lips quirked up on one side at having so effectively backed her into a corner. He leaned over her, one clawed hand clutching the smooth, slippery edge of the tub while the other fisted in her hair, pulling her hard against his body. His mouth descended rapidly, swallowing her cry of protest. Tilting her back, he pulled her underneath the water's surface just as his tongue forced entry into her mouth. 

Kagome was frightened. She couldn't breath. But the feel of his naked body against her own was like a drug, and a very large part of her didn't really care if they ever resurfaced. Perhaps she never would have, had there not been a fraction of doubt remaining in her heart. Like Orpheus and Lot's wife before her, Kagome looked back. She opened her eyes underneath the water and looked up, seeing a dark, looming figure through the blur. Someone was standing over the tub, looking down at them. 

In a dizzying rush, she came up sputtering, her eyes wide as she fought to catch her breath. It was just as she had feared. Her mother was there, looking down her nose at the girl, her features set in a hard, disapproving glare that Kagome had never seen before on her mother's face.

"Mama!" she choked out, wiping a hand across her aching, water-logged eyes. 

"You little fool!"her mother whispered poisonously, "What have you done?" 

"What?"Kagome asked incredulously, frowning in her confusion.The face was her mother's, but that voice… Where had she heard this before? And why?

"Do you honestly think that this is what he wants? That he's really seeing you?"

"Mama?"

"What about your education, little girl? You can just kiss your future goodbye! You're a whore, Kagome. The dirty little whore of a beast. You are not my daughter." 

"No!" Kagome gasped. Behind her, Inuyasha rose up from the water. A malevolent growl was rippling through his body, and his eyes bled crimson. 

"FUCKING WITCH!" he roared, splaying his claws at her mother. "I'll gut you for saying that!"

"NO!"Kagome cried, shutting her eyes tightly,"OSUWARI!"With a loud splash, Inuyasha disappeared back beneath the water. Almost immediately, large pockets of air began to break upon surface. 

__

"Good girl…"her mother cooed softly. Kagome's eyes flew open in horror as she began to realize the implications of what she had just done.

__

"No!" she howled, her hands groping frantically beneath the water, but finding nothing."Mama, he'll drown!" 

"Good girl."

__

Kagome awoke in the dark, sultry confines of Kaede-bachan's hut, gasping the stale air as the last fragments of her dream still rang in her ears. There was little time to lie still and ponder the horrors she had just witnessed, for as she was becoming more fully aware of herself, her brain began to receive an emergency signal from her bladder. It was no easy task to disentangle herself from the hanyou's seemingly endless limbs, and by the time she had managed to escape, her body was nearly screaming from the built-up pressure. And standing only made things worse. If she didn't get to a bush, and soon, she was going to have a very embarrassing accident. 

"Where are you going?" asked a sluggish, disembodied voice from the ground behind her as an invisible hand tugged at the hem of her robe. 

"I have to go." she whispered urgently, trying to pull out of his grasp without tearing the fabric on his claws. 

"Go where?" he mumbled thickly, fisting the cloth even tighter in his hand. 

"Baka! I'm not _going_ anywhere-" she squeaked in frustration. 

"Oh… Then come back to bed."

"I have to pee!"

"Again?" he murmured incredulously. "Can't you wait until morning?"

"If I could wait until morning would I have gotten up? Please, Inuyasha, it's an emergency!" 

Inuyasha grunted softly. She heard him shifting around in the darkness, and when he spoke next, his voice was at her ear rather than her ankles.

"Ok," he muttered. "Let's go."

"You know, you don't have to come with me every time I do this." she whispered, her face glowing.

"Of course I do." he retorted while attempting to suppress a yawn. "With your shitty night vision you'd get lost the minute you stepped off the porch. Besides, it's my job to protect you. You never know what could be lurking-"

"Ok, fine! Fine!" she interrupted, "Can we please just hurry?"

As soon as he had helped to lower her down off the porch, Kagome moved as fast as her legs would carry her to the far side of the hut. She wasn't going to make it to a respectable distance away, so the scrubs between the shrine staircase and the miko's home would have to suffice. Not that she cared at this point, but if anyone did happen to notice, she was fairly certain that she would be forgiven her transgression, under the circumstances. Pulling her robe up over her knees, she squatted as best she could behind the largest shrubbery, trying not to teeter over onto her bottom. Inuyasha stood at her back, facing out, as had become his custom. So all-encompassing was her need for release from that agonizing pressure that she skipped the usual, albeit absurd, _Don't look, Inuyasha. Don't listen, either_, but got straight down to business. 

"That's it?" Inuyasha muttered curiously, peering halfway over his shoulder when the only sound he heard was a few drops pattering the ground. The entire 'downpour' had lasted maybe six or seven seconds, never amounting to anything more than, at best, a weak trickle. 

"Sorry." she said lamely. "It honestly felt like I was going to explode that time." 

"That's the second time tonight."

"Well if you would let me do this on my own-"

"No," he said flatly.

"Fine. But I'm afraid I have to tell you that it's only going to get worse as the baby starts to take up more space."

"Worse?" he snorted, "We might as well start sleeping next to this bush at the rate you're going. It'll save time."

"I know it." Kagome sighed. "Everything keeps getting worse, doesn't it? My bladder, my mood swings…"

"The number of times you floor me in a week…"

"That too, I know," she smiled weakly. "Oh, and let's not forget all the weight I've gained already!" 

"Eh? You're fine."

"Liar," Kagome scolded, a tiny smile alighting on her face. "But thank you for that. That was sweet." Inuyasha shook his head. Was this some kind of game? He hadn't been flattering her, only telling the truth. She did look fine. Rounder, sure, but still basically the same. He didn't understand what her problem was lately. What had happened to her self confidence? 

"Some things have gotten better," he offered helpfully.

"Yeah… The sex has gotten better," she agreed.

"Oi," he protested, coughing in embarrassment. 

"It has," she insisted. It was true. He had become a gentler lover out of reverence for the baby, and that tiny bundle of nerves below her waist had become especially sensitive as the weeks progressed. That, and the bigger she got, the more they had to shift their positions, and it was remarkably fun to experiment in ways that they might not have thought of or agreed to had they not been faced with the dilemma of the baby growing between their bodies.

"Yeah…" he admitted finally, then nervously cleared his throat. "Humph. Anyway, maybe after this one is whelped things will go back to being a little more normal."

"I wouldn't count on it," Kagome said softly, the gentle curve of her smile dropping a fraction.

"What was that?"

"Nothing…" she said, taking his callused palm in her hand. "Come on, Oyajii, I'm tired. Let's go back to bed." 

"Keh. I'm not the one keeping us up." he grumbled, but allowed himself to be lead back to the porch.

"Neither am I," Kagome said matter-of-factly. "And I hope you don't think that having to squat behind a bush every few hours is my idea of a good time, because, frankly, it isn't."

"Sorry! Shit, woman, if I had known you were going to be in this good of a mood, I'd have made Shippou take you." he muttered under his breath.

Kagome blinked at the hanyou, confused by his reaction. She hadn't been _that_ hostile, had she? Had she? She _was_ having a hard time gauging her emotional reactions to things lately. Maybe she had. 

For a moment, Kagome considered telling Inuyasha about her nightmare. Now that they were back inside, and her bladder was no longer screaming at her, some fragmented images from the dream were starting to return. She knew it was silly, but as she recalled more and more of it, she became more agitated. In particular, she was becoming more annoyed with Inuyasha. It was just like him to react so violently! 

"Inu-" she began scolding, rolling over to glare at him.

He was already snoring. 

****

~*~*~

"Are you certain that this is the valley the villagers were talking about, houshi-sama?" Sango asked, hopping down off of Kirara's back. "It seems perfectly normal."

"It has to be," the monk answered, pointing off to their left. "You see? There's the stagnant pool that the Innkeeper's daughters described to me. Come, let's not waste the night speculating," he continued, oblivious to the faint grinding sound coming from Sango's jaw. "Something in this area is responsible for the disappearance of several travelers. This could very well be the lead we've been searching for."

"I don't know that I'm entirely convinced that those disappearances are connected to Naraku, houshi-sama. It isn't really his fashion to snatch up hapless wanderers. What purpose would it serve?"

"You may be right about that, Sango, but if there is even the slightest chance that a Shikon shard is involved, there is much to be gained. Besides, the disappearances have brought great misfortune to the livelihood of that kind man who put us up for the day. After the hospitality that was shown to us, we owe it to him to figure out what's going on out here and see if we can set things right."

"I see… and when we're finished, I suppose that we should then go back to the Inn and let him know that his troubles are over?"

"If you think it best, Sango, then I would not be in disagreement."

"And the fact that he has three young daughters, all of marrying age, would have nothing to do with your wanting to return, is that correct?"

"Poor lovely young things," Miroku sighed piteously, "destined to a life of poverty and hardship if the situation cannot be rectified, doomed to forever waiting on drunken merchants if it can. One way or another, they will require comforting. Perhaps I could provide some spiritual guidance to ease them through this troubling time."

"You-"

"Not now, Sango," he interrupted, "I believe we've been surrounded."

As if prompted by the monk's words, a series of low growls rumbled out from all directions, and a ring of glowing red eyes appeared in the darkness surrounding them. An unnatural howl pierced the air, signaling the dark and bristling creatures to advance. 

"Wolves!" Sango gasped, bracing Hiraikotsu against her back. 

"Not only wolves," Miroku warned. "I can sense a dark aura here as well. There are youkai among them."

"Wolf youkai…" Sango nodded, as if she'd expected as much.

"Yes. Probably controlling them as we speak. Prepare yourself."

Sango's grip tightened on her weapon, her muscles bunching beneath it in anticipation. Miroku lowered the end of his staff until he was grasping it with both hands, readying himself for the onslaught. The wolves drew steadily closer, until the human pair and their youkai companion could almost feel their hot breath washing over them. 

"On my signal, houshi-sama!" Sango instructed, hazarding a brief glance at the grim-faced monk, who merely nodded. 

"Wait…" she said steadily, her voice low, "waaait… NOW!" 

The golden rings of the Miroku's staff jangled sharply, and the rounded tip of Hiraikotsu had just left the ground, when a loud, harsh voice suddenly called out "Stop!" The taijiya and the houshi hesitated, startled first by the sound, then by the immediate change in their attackers. The instant the command sounded, the wolves dropped onto their hindquarters and now sat, relaxed and obedient, as though they had suddenly transformed from wild beasts to lap dogs. Following the wolves' collective gaze upward to a rocky outcropping, they saw why. 

Out of the shadows stepped the tall, broad form of a very familiar youkai.

"Kouga!" Miroku cried, "This is _your_ pack?"

"Oi, you two!" the youkai barked demandingly, "Where the hell are Inukuro and my woman?" 


	13. Chapter 13

__

*Authors Note_ - _All bow before Ithilwen, the great and terrible! Tremble before her mad beta skills! Or, um, rather, thanks be to Ithilwen for stepping up and helping out while Merith has been abducted by holiday cheer. For this, we love her.

"Oh these little rejections, how they add up quickly.

One small sideways look and I feel so ungood.

Somewhere along the way I think I gave you the power to make 

me feel the way I thought only my father could." - Alanis Morrisette

Part 13

__

Miroku leaned over to breathe into the taijiya's ear, his eyes straining to remain warily fixed on the angry wolf prince standing at the edge of his peripheral vision. 

"This is bad." 

"Houshi-sama…" Sango hissed back reproachfully, eyes front as she whispered out of the corner of her mouth. "We both knew it was only a matter of time before he found out."

"Yes, but I had hoped to be far away when that time finally arrived," the reluctant monk admitted. 

"There's no help for it," she said resolutely, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow. "Just be careful, houshi-sama. We're right behind you."

One dark eyebrow began to twitch almost imperceptibly as the young monk raised his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat. "As comforting as that sounds, why do I have to be the one to tell him?"

Sango turned her face from Kouga long enough to shoot the monk an annoyed frown. "Because _you_ are accustomed to talking your way out of things," she said levelly, then nudged him insistently in his midsection with the bony part of her elbow once again. "Get on with it!"

"Hey! What are you guys whispering about?" Kouga barked suspiciously from his craggy perch, and in the time it took for the two humans to turn their attention back to where the wolf prince had been standing, he had dropped down off the jagged outcropping and landed before them, less than a few feet away. "You still haven't answered me, monk," the wolf prince persisted, his voice taking on a dark, rumbling edge of impatience. Miroku turned his head to slowly to the left, then the right, casting a meaningful glance over the circle of beasts surrounding them.

"I would gladly answer you, but first I must know if it is your intention to harm us." 

Having followed Miroku's wandering gaze, Kouga chuckled softly in understanding, his lips pulling apart in his amusement to revealed an impressive number of pointy, white teeth. 

"Who, them?" he asked with questionable innocence peppering his tone, then laughed outright. "Don't worry, they're harmless. As long as I'm here, they won't come any closer. Just the same, I think you'd better answer me before I start to lose my patience," he continued, his smile widening to expose the fangs on his lower jaw, "I've been generous so far because we've been allies in the past, and because you are my woman's companions, but this is the last time I'm going to ask you. Where are Inukuro and my woman?" 

Miroku looked first to Sango, who nodded back in accordance, then reluctantly began to explain. "They've been staying in a small farming village just outside of Inuyasha's forest, where the shrine that once housed the Shikon no tama resides. If you follow the river just south of here, it should lead you there. However, there's something-" 

Kouga gave a curt nod of understanding, and quickly interrupted. "Thanks monk. That's all I needed to know." Kicking up a cyclone of dust, he sped away, leaving Miroku with his finger in the air, his mouth moving up and down as half-formed words flew in starts from his lips. 

"Wait!" Sango called after the whirling dervish, "There's something you need to know first!"

"He can't hear you…" Miroku coughed, wiping his tongue on his sleeve as he tried to remove the thin coating of dust that had been stirred up by the wolf prince's hasty departure. 

"Poor Kagome-chan…" Sango sighed ruefully, watching the hazy brown cloud slowly disperse and settle. 

"Sango!" Miroku interrupted, giving her shoulder a hard jab, "I can appreciate your concern, but I believe we have a more urgent problem at the moment." Hearing the alarm in Miroku's voice and a low-pitched rumbling, Sango looked back. 

The wolves, outwardly tamed by Kouga's presence only moments ago, now seemed to have recovered their senses, and were again behaving like the savage pack they had first encountered. The circle was tightening like a noose.

'_As long as I'm here, they won't come any closer,'_ Sango recalled bitterly, gripping the corner of Hiraikotsu tightly in her fist, willing it not to slip from her sweaty palm. '_Don't worry about them, they're harmless… That is, until I run off and they revert back into a pack of man-eaters! That idiot!' _

"Sango…" Miroku repeated, tugging on her free arm. Shaking him off distractedly, she snapped back, 

"Get ready! No one's going to stop them this time."

"Sango!" Miroku said loudly and more adamantly, hoping to get through to her, "This is _Kouga's_ pack. I think it would be unwise to remain."

"But the local people-" she insisted, and the rest of her argument was cut short as the circle finally broke. 

Sango spun around in alarm as the wolf nearest her sprang into the air, its black maw open wide as it lunged for her throat. Hiraikotsu whirled around to deflect the blow, and the wolf collided with the flat end, stopping with a sickening crunch. 

As the first wolf slid down Hiraikotsu and crumpled to the ground, she heard a snarl at her ankle and pulled it up instinctively, narrowly missing another set of snapping jaws. She brought her heel down upon the center of the second creature's skull, driving its head into the gritty turf. The wolf's teeth smashed against one another with a loud, dull clack, and there it remained, motionless. 

Sango only had a moment to register the dulling of its eyes from red to yellow-green, when another fierce roar drew her attention around the other way again and she was slammed from the side. Her reaction to the attack had been delayed by a fraction of a second, but it had been enough for the snarling beast to gain the upper hand. Sango felt herself falling down to one side, Hiraikotsu slipping from her palm, carried away by its own weight, leaving her without a shield from the wolf's dripping, chomping, fangs. 

Working at a speed born from a life of training, her hand shot down to her waist, grabbing for the hilt of her katana. She pulled it from its scabbard, and in one quick, fluid motion, sliced across the dark monster's chest. In a spray of warm blood, the beast slumped forward, falling onto her torso. Panting heavily, she struggled to push its limp body off of her chest. While the wolf's jaws no longer posed a threat, its dead weight was slowing her down, and the others were already upon her. Sango lashed out, stabbing blindly into the sea of dark faces. The startled yips and howls of pain that punctuated the singular, ceaseless growl gave her a wild sense of satisfaction as she fought them off from the ground. 

Even if she knew she couldn't fend them away for very long, she fought. She was suffocating in their horrible breath. They were strong, and many, and they had her down, hurting and alone. 

When the wolf had first collided with her, knocking her to the ground, she had heard Miroku cry out from somewhere nearby. Now it looked like the monk wouldn't be able to make a difference. When the end came, you were alone. 

As her mind started to slip, Sango's thrusts began to slow and weaken. At the first opportunity, a pair of sharp, cruel fangs snapped down on her arm, tearing through armor and skin. Her hand spasmed, dropping the sword as she cried out in pain. Her eyes squeezing closed against it as she waited for the inevitable. 

_ 'The next time I feel the teeth, they will be against my throat.'_

But the inevitable never came. Instead, there was a sharp yip, and some thrashing, and then a pair of strong arms was pulling her up and away, out of the hot, foul-smelling tangle of coarse hair and saliva. 

Only slightly aware that she was no longer on the ground, Sango peeked out through heavy-lidded eyes. The last thing she saw before slipping into warm, welcoming darkness were the wolves, rapidly diminishing into dark splotches as they were left far below. 

_'Alone. Always alone… I never meant for you to die alone. How I failed you, Kohaku. I should have taken your place.'_

As she regained awareness, the first thing she noticed was that she could breathe clearly again. Next came the familiar feelings of soft fur beneath her fingertips and cool wind toying with the few loose strands of hair that often escaped her horsetail. Then the smell of temple incense. It was a difficult task lifting her eyelids, but after a few moments, she managed. They opened to a smooth triangle of pale flesh, a collarbone exposed by the loose gap in a fold of dark material. It was deceptively soft and hairless, yet she knew it would be firm to the touch. She followed it with her gaze up the long neck and throat, all the way to the hard lines of the chin, the jaw. The soft earlobe, adorned with small, bright rings of gold. His body was soft, but his hold was firm, and the whole of him smelled like a shrine. 

'_Why? Why did it have to be you?' _

She closed her eyes again, leaning into him and breathing deeply. 

"You saved me," she whispered, her voice sounding sore and groggy in her own ears. 

He smiled at the sound of her voice and glanced downward, his eyes sparkling with a strange light all their own. "I hope you won't hold it against me." 

"Don't," she said, her eyebrows drawing together in mild annoyance, "I want to be serious, houshi-sama. You saved my life."

_'I want to set things right, I'd willingly give my life to make things right for you…'_

"I was merely returning the favor, Sango. I've lost count of the number of times you have done the same for me." He said it lightly, but it sounded forced, and the smile plastered on his face was beginning to look strained. 

_'…and if the time comes that I can, I will…'_

"No," Sango frowned. "I'm the one who should be keeping count. You always seem to be there. For me. You're _always_ there. Why haven't… Why haven't we…" she stammered, a deep blush creeping across her nose, "Why haven't I… b-been kinder to you, houshi-sama?" 

_'…But the problem is, a large part of me that I can't seem to ignore…'_

Her heart was hammering in her chest. Before her brain or her modesty could make her stop, she slid her eyes closed and leaned up, bumping her lips against the startled monk's. 

_'…wants to live!'_

Outwardly, it was swift and clumsy, but to Sango it felt as if she were about to drown inside of her own body. Her eyes fluttered open as she pulled away a moment later, catching Miroku's features in a moment of transition. He'd been right in the middle of swapping a look of shock and confusion for one of concern. 

"You really did have a scare back there, didn't you?" 

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, nervously biting on her bottom lip. She wasn't entirely sure what she had been expecting, but this hadn't been it. Miroku looked back up at the horizon, feigning intent on their flight, while really trying to avoid looking at her. 

"You're obviously still in shock."

"I am not!" Sango protested. What was going on? Was he trying to make a fool of her? When she glared at up him, he cringed. 

"Sango. I am obligated by a promise." 

"Promise?" she muttered stupidly.

"Yes. You haven't forgotten, have you? I was sworn to behave myself. On pain of death," he said evenly, "and I'm loath to have to pay the consequences of such a promise broken."

'_Is that all?' _Sango wondered. "What if…" she began slowly, looking up at him demurely from beneath the thick fringe of her half-lowered eyelashes, "What if I were to release you from your promise?"

Miroku was silent for some time, but then he said flatly. "Please try to get some rest. You're not acting like yourself."

"What?!" Sango cried, "_I'm_ fine! It's you! You're the one who's acting strangely!"

"Have it your way, then," he sighed, "Just get some rest." 

Sango wormed herself out of his embrace until she sat righted on Kirara's back, elbowing the houshi until he was back behind her. 

"You'd better hold on if you don't want to break your head open," she said curtly, spurring Kirara into higher and faster flight. She'd show him who needed a rest! Her arm was sore from the wolf bite, but it hadn't been as deep as she had originally believed. She was sure it had already stopped bleeding. Sango looked down at her arm to see if this was indeed true, and saw that her arm had been bandaged while she had slept, the flow of blood staunched by a torn swath of purple fabric.

'_Damn him.' _She wasn't going to let this small revelation influence her anger, she simply was not! 

"Tell me, do you think we can make it back before Kouga?" Miroku asked conversationally. This was met with an icy silence. She ignored him completely, choosing instead to think back on the inn where they'd recently stayed. More specifically, on the innkeeper's three young daughters. He certainly hadn't been discouraging their attentions, and they'd hardly been interested. 

_'Even if he doesn't feel about me the way…the way…I mean, I went against all better judgment and practically gave him an invitation to…to…Why did he…I'd thought that he…'_ She didn't know what she'd thought. Her mind felt like it had been infested with a clutch of mayflies. But by the time they had passed out of the mountain range, past the pale three-quarter moon, Sango had decided that she didn't care if she never spoke to the monk again.


	14. Chapter 14

*Author's note - Thanks again to Ithilwen on this chapter. She has earned the right to her own superhero cape for so many reasons, not the least of which being her speed, accuracy, and her hilarious "chocked gurgle" suggestion. Thanks must also be given to my good friend Niamh; for the beta, for the brainstorming, for reading chapters 8-13 in one sitting, and of course, for taking the position as my sworn protector so very long ago. Thanks for helping me get this out in time for Christmas, guys. Happy Holidays! -Nanda 

Part 14

On the very edge of the village settlement, near the boundary of Inuyasha's forest, the miko Kaede worked on her knees, gathering herbs for her medicinal kit. Not far from her, Kagome sat in silent contemplation. They had come here together because, allegedly, the pregnant young miko was supposed to assist with the gathering. It was one of the few jobs left that she could actually do in her present condition. She was often too tired and irritable to play with the village children, and Inuyasha wouldn't allow her to go within spitting distance of the sick. Tending the garden, making poultices and gathering herbs fell to the girl by way of default, though in all actuality, sitting quietly lost in thought was about all that she was good for most mornings. 

Kaede was hardly a novice to the plights of expectant young mothers. She'd assumed the role of midwife enough times in her long years to know as much as anyone could ever know about the subject, even if she had never experienced it firsthand. She knew about the severe nightmares, and even if she hadn't, she shared a small hut with the child. She had heard the soft whimpers in the night. Compound upon that the general fatigue that comes with carrying a sudden excess of weight, and it was no wonder that the girl sat idle. She was probably exhausted. 

In fact, compound that exhaustion with a belligerent, overprotective father, worries for future safety, and the small matter of an unfinished quest hanging over her head, and the finally tally was astronomical. Knowing this, who could begrudge the child her desire to sit quietly and do nothing? 

Kaede did all that was in her power to lessen Kagome's burden. For instance, this present opportunity. She had devised a way to allow Kagome some time away from the hanyou. 

Currently, Inuyasha was down in the village. The ox cart of a local merchant had overturned in the street, spilling its wares and knocking out the supports of a nearby porch. Kaede had insisted that Inuyasha offer his assistance. The hanyou had been quite vocal about his indifference to their dilemma, but she had been able to sway him eventually. All it had taken was a sharp reminder of his mate's relative mercy at the hands of the villagers, and the suggestion that having good standing in the community would not be detrimental if they chose to remain. He had finally agreed, though very grudgingly, and the two mikos had taken the opportunity to slip away to the meadow. Kagome had smiled like a fool at the prospect of getting away for an hour or so, and it had made all of Kaede's efforts to get them there unescorted worthwhile. It had pleased the elderly miko to see the girl smile again; she'd done it so infrequently in the last six months. 

"Kagome? Did you find any of those mushrooms I was telling you about? The reishi?" Kaede asked as she shook the loose earth from a small cluster of roots. They were attached to a long, yellow-green stem she had pulled from the ground only moments earlier. The miko smiled, gladdened by the pleasant familiarity of her work as she added the plant to her satchel. Having received no answer from the girl, she broke from her routine and looked back over her shoulder. "Kagome? Where is your mind, child?"

"Huh?" Kagome started, turning her head to stare owlishly at the older miko. "Oh… Kaede-bachan. I'm sorry, were you asking me something?" She blushed, a hint of shame and mild embarrassment coloring her cheeks. She'd come with every intention of working, but once she'd gingerly plopped herself down amongst the fragrant greens, her body had taken root and her mind had wandered off. Instead of pulling and plucking, she'd been openly basking in the sun, enjoying the laziness of the day, the sweet smell of the grass, and the warmth in the air at a time that was otherwise becoming cooler with each passing day. Summer was on the verge of becoming autumn, and though it was still warm enough to go about in lighter garb, there was a subtle, crisp smell to the air that hinted of chillier mornings to come. 

"I was just wondering where you had gone off to," the elderly miko said with a smile, "It must have been somewhere far from here, child." Kagome smiled back guiltily. 

"Forgive me, Kaede-bachan. I just never seem to get a quiet moment to myself anymore. I wasn't even thinking about anything in particular, really. I was just enjoying the day. Just trying to…_be_, for a moment or two." 

The elderly miko nodded in companionable understanding, a feeling of fondness for the young girl gently swelling in her breast. Placing large, gnarled hands beside her knees, she pushed herself to her feet. 

"Child, I do believe that I'm going to go over that hill and see if there are any reishi to be had over there. There's less sunlight, and more trees, so the chances are better. No, child, stay put," she said quickly, staying the girl with a soft gesture when she began to rise as well. "You wait here and make the most of it. I'll only be a few moments."

Kagome settled back into the grass and offered the elderly woman a grateful smile. "Thank you," she said simply. There was no need to elaborate.

When Kaede had finally shuffled her way over the hill, Kagome found herself truly alone for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. The morning was sweet and clear, and she finally had time to be by herself and think. She could think about anything that she cared to, anything at all. The day was clear, the coast was clear, and, more importantly, her mind was clear.

Clear, that is, except… Except for the fact that it wasn't. In the back of her mind was the presence of something faint. Or rather, something that had started out faint, but was becoming more pronounced with each passing second. Two somethings, and now they were almost upon her. If she didn't know any better…

"Kouga-kun," she whispered. Her back was to the forest. She was almost afraid to turn around and see. 

"Kagome." Right from the edge of the meadow. He was much closer than she'd assumed. He had already seen her, so there was no chance of hiding; he'd only have sniffed her out anyway. And as for running… Kagome looked down at her belly. That was just ludicrous. No options remained save confrontation. Once again, she thanked her good fortune for this time alone.

Getting up slowly, for slowly was the only way she was able anymore, she turned on wobbly legs and faced the wolf demon. Best to get things right out in the open. No holds barred, all cards out on the table. Good gods, she was so nervous that she was resorting to clichés. 

It had been a long time since she'd seen him last, back even before she and Inuyasha had become lovers, but all that time had done little to change the wolf prince. While her body now was as different from before as night is from day, Kouga had remained exactly the same. Exactly how she had remembered him. She wasn't all that surprised; a year was virtually nothing in the life of a youkai. But just the same, she felt a small measure of relief to see how very unchanged he was. Those same piercing blue eyes held her own in a keen, unwavering gaze. The same glossy black hair stirred restlessly in the slight autumn breeze. The same sharp nose in the center of his face, the same proud jaw line, all set above the powerful body she hadn't managed to forget. The long, ropey muscles of his arms and legs were built for speed, and were as flawless as the rest of him. He looked wild. He looked free. She took comfort in the fact that some things, at least, were unchanging. She wondered if Kouga's love was one of those infallible things, as changeless as his outward appearance. She wondered if it mattered. 

She was about to find out. He was smiling at her. And then the smile slowly faded away. 

"What in the…?" He moved closer. Three steps…two steps…one. Slowly, the light of comprehension began to work its way into his features. 

"What…what's happened to you? Don't tell me…?" He reached out. Lifting her hand to his lips, he lowered his head as if to kiss the upturned palm. Rather, an active nose brushed the pulse point on her wrist, then paused to sniff there a moment longer. His eyes narrowed. 

"Inukuro…" he growled, his fingers tightening on her wrist. Enough to get her blood pumping, but not enough to inflict injury. "I can't believe it! I can't believe he did this to you!"

"It wasn't like that," Kagome said softly, "I wanted to."

"Kagome," he interjected; his mouth twisted in an ugly grimace as he closed his eyes and turned his head away. "I know that you don't like violence, but to try to protect him at the cost of your own suffering? I'm going to kill that fucking mutt!"

"Kouga, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but-" Kouga spun back around, his eyes flashing dangerously. He was shaking with rage. 

"How DARE he touch you when I had already laid claim to you!"

"Kouga, I…" she began apologetically, then stopped abruptly. "Wait a second, _claim_?"

"Yeah! That fucking mutt, he-" Kouga paused. The trembling of his limbs stilled and his expression eased into something a bit more neutral. He looked as if he had just noticed her standing there for the first time. "Wait, no, I didn't mean-"

"Stupid, arrogant males and their stupid pride!" Kagome seethed, furiously attempting to pull her hand back from his grasp, "You don't care about what's happened to me at all, do you? It's just a competition between you two! Like I'm some kind of…of a…chew toy!"

"A what?"

"The only reason you're upset at all is because of some stupid claim!"

"That's not the only reason!" Kouga protested, refusing to surrender the hand. "I love you, Kagome."

There they were. Those four little words that she'd been waiting to hear for a very, very long time. It should have been a temptation. It wasn't as if, in her weaker moments, her mind hadn't turned to the possibility of Kouga. But hearing them as she just had, coming from Kouga's mouth, she realized how utterly meaningless they were. She simply did not love him. She would never love him, and consequently, she would never leave with him. It would be preferable to suffer and stumble through with Inuyasha. For better or worse, she loved Inuyasha. 

"Kouga-kun," Kagome said after a long pause, "If you really mean that-"

"I do," he interrupted, gathering up her other hand and clasping them gently to his chest. "I'm sorry Kagome, I didn't mean to upset you. I do care about what's happened to you. That's why right after I kill Inukuro, I'm going to bring you back to my den and claim you properly." 

Kagome's calm, resolute expression fell to horror. "But Kouga-kun!"

"Shh…" he whispered, bringing her knuckles to his mouth. This time, he kissed them. "I know what you're thinking, but it's alright. It doesn't matter that you're carrying his whelp. Once I've killed him, it will be perfectly acceptable for me to claim his widowed mate as my own. Think of it as 'the spoils of war.' It happens all the time." 

Kagome was beginning to wish she'd never left her bed that morning. 

"Kouga-"

"And really, I can live with it," he continued, releasing one of her hands so that he could reach out and lovingly stroke her cheek with the backs of his knuckles, "It's not what we had envisioned for our future together, I know, but it'll be all right. I love you, Kagome. What else matters?" He was smiling again. Gods help her. 

"Kouga-kun, listen to me. If you really do love me, then listen to me," she persisted. "I love Inuyasha." 

Kouga stared at her mutely, though she had to give him some credit. He wasn't smiling anymore. 

"Do you hear me? I'm in love with Inuyasha," she repeated, waiting for the nod, or at the very least, the look of comprehension she was hoping for. "And even if I weren't, this child is his. I can't leave him, not even if I wanted to. Which I don't!" she added quickly when his mouth began to open. "I'm sorry. In a lot of ways, it would be much easier to go with you, but I can't. You understand, don't y-" 

Kouga cut her short by pulling her to his chest. After her initial surprise, Kagome accepted his embrace and closed her eyes, resting her head against his shoulder.

"Kouga-kun, please, tell me that you understand." 

"My poor Kagome," he whispered, stroking her hair. 

Kagome sighed. She had a sinking feeling that she wasn't getting through. She was about to open her mouth and try again, when suddenly from behind, she heard the dreadfully familiar sound of bare feet whipping through tall grass, charging them at a terrible speed. The sound stopped abruptly with a heavy, dragging noise a few yards away from her turned back, and coincided with the rising of Kouga's hackles. 

_'Of course,' _Kagome thought grimly. _'You knew this was coming.'_

The scream came next, exactly how she might have envisioned it.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?"

"Oh, Inuyasha," Kagome sighed in defeat, turning around to greet him properly. "This is _so _not what you think it is."

"What the hell are you-" the hanyou began, growing confused and agitated by her blasé response to his explosion. Flustered, his face had turned an unnatural shade of red. "Stop talking shit!" he finally expelled, pointing one clawed finger of accusation at the pair. "It's exactly what I think it is! You were hugging that fucking wolf!"

"Oi, Inukuro-" Kouga snarled, raising a fist.

"Shut up!" the hanyou screamed over him, "You have two seconds to get out of here before I rip out your liver and force-feed it to you!"

"Somebody's gonna lose their innards today, but it ain't gonna be me!" the wolf snarled, stepping between Inuyasha and Kagome. "You've got some fucking nerve, mutt! Just what the hell made you think that you could stick your filthy dog dick inside my woman?"

"My…w-what? Your-" Inuyasha sputtered, achieving the nearly impossible by turning an even deeper shade of red. Then, when the full implication of what had been said finally registered, he roared, "_Your_ woman?!"

Hands fisted at his hips, Kouga uttered a short, harsh bark of laughter. "First you force yourself on my mate, then you have the nerve to act surprised? I can't believe how stupid you are!"

"She's not your mate!" Inuyasha growled murderously, fingers and eyebrows jerking spasmodically. Kouga didn't even blink. 

"Of course she is!"

"You stupid idiot, _look at her_!" the hanyou demanded, gesticulating wildly at Kagome. To illustrate his point, Kagome held her arms away from her body, palms up, and looked down at her belly. Then she looked back up at Kouga as if to say _'See?'_

"Keh," Kouga snorted, folding his arms over his chest and raising one disdainful eyebrow at the hanyou. "So Inukuro managed to figure out what fits where. You think I give a shit? None of that'll matter once I kill you." 

"Oh really? An' you think it's gonna be that easy?"

"Yup." 

Kagome watched the fracas from the sidelines, not so much concerned as tired and frustrated with the entire situation. When Kouga rabbit-kicked her hanyou into a nearby tree, she moved to the other side of the meadow. 

__

'It was shaping up to be such a pleasant morning, too,' she thought with a morose sigh._ 'I should have tried to hide behind something the moment I sensed Kouga-kun's shards. Maybe he wouldn't have recognized my scent with the baby…'_

"Aw, who am I kidding?" she muttered aloud, her head following Kouga's flight across the meadow, until he skidded to a head-first halt, tearing up the soft earth. "If he was close enough that I could sense him, he would have sensed…" Kagome stopped in mid-sentence, eyes widening as something momentous suddenly occurred to her. 

"Sensed. Sensed! Inuyasha!" Without a moment's hesitation, Kagome toddled headlong into the fray. The menfolk held their positions; Inuyasha presently held Kouga by the throat, his fist hung poised in midair.

"Are you crazy?! Get the hell out of here, you're gonna get hurt!" he yelled. The choked gurgle from Kouga's windpipe was similarly scolding.

Heedless of anything except her excitement, Kagome ignored the outburst entirely. "Inuyasha! I did it! I did it! She was wrong!" Then, grabbing hold of his forelocks, she tugged his face downward and began to shower it in tiny, rapid kisses of joy. 

"Kagome, wait- What?" Inuyasha protested, casting an uncertain glance at Kouga. He wasn't sure whether to be embarrassed by her behavior or to start gloating. 

__

"Oi, Kagome! Don't kiss that mutt!" Kouga snapped. 

Kouga's reaction became the deciding factor. Slipping an arm around Kagome's waist, Inuyasha turned his half-swollen face to the wolf and declared haughtily, "She'll kiss whoever she wants, fleabag! She knows who her-" But before he could finish properly, Kagome released his face and spun around, throwing her arms around Kouga.

"Thank you!" she cried, planting a big, wet kiss on the wolf prince's cheek, "Thank you for coming to find me, Kouga-kun! If you hadn't come by, I might never have-"

"You see that mutt?" Kouga snarled, sporting an enormously self-satisfied smile. 

"Kagome!" Inuyasha howled. Kagome turned around, grabbing both of Inuyasha's hands, and began to hop up and down on the balls of her feet. 

"I did it, Inuyasha, I did it!"

"You bet she did, dog turd!" Kouga said smugly, grinning at the hanyou over the girl's bobbing head. "Hold on, Kagome. Give me two minutes to rip his head off and then we can go." Kouga reached over and grabbed Kagome's hand, pulling her away from Inuyasha. Inuyasha grabbed Kouga's wrist.

"She's not going anywhere, you stupid asshole!"

"Get your hand off of me," the wolf answered coldly. 

"Guys! Stop it! Kouga-kun, let go, you don't understand," Kagome complained loudly, trying to assert herself as she struggled to pry Kouga's long fingers from her wrist. "I did it! Kikyou said I wouldn't be able to anymore, but I-"

"Get _your _hand off of _her_!" Inuyasha growled, talking over Kagome's protests. Kouga matched his growl, then raised it a notch. 

"Make me."

"I'll do you one better, wolf!" Inuyasha snarled, his hand reaching down to his waist. "I'll _kill_ you!" 

Kouga stepped forward until he was almost nose to nose with the hanyou. "Not a chance in hell, mutt."

"Stop it!" Kagome shouted, wriggling her way in between them. Putting a hand on either youkai's face, she shoved them apart. "Knock it off already! Inuyasha, osuwari."

"Umph!" 

Once Inuyasha was out of the equation, she turned her attention to the wolf youkai. "Kouga-kun, I'm touched that you came all this way rescue me, but, as you can see, I'm fine. So, please leave. Now."

"But Kagome-" he wheedled.

"You fucking bastard, I'm gonna-"

"I said osuwari, Inuyasha," she stated calmly. 

"Oof!"

She glanced back at him momentarily over her shoulder before turning back to Kouga. "Please Kouga-kun, we'll talk more about this later. I don't want to have to say that to him again."

The wolf prince smirked. "Are you kidding? I could watch this all day."

"Well, maybe," Kagome said unflinchingly, "but I don't like doing it. He's my mate, Kouga-kun."

All the good humor drained from Kouga's face. "Are you sure about this?" 

Kagome nodded and said with finality, "I'm sure. It was my choice."

Kouga took a long time to respond. When he finally spoke, it was with a rare amount of vulnerability. For the first time since she'd met him, she sensed from him uncertainty. His voice was deeper than normal, yet soft and tremulous. 

"You were _my_ choice, Kagome." 

"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking down at her belly. The intensity in his eyes was beginning to make her feel uncomfortable. Noting her change in demeanor, Kouga sighed and backed away. 

"Alright," he said, a bit of the old bravado returning, "I'll go. For now. But I'm not going far."

"Kouga-kun-" she remonstrated, but he wouldn't hear it. 

"My offer stands, Kagome. I don't want to be too far away when you change your mind, or when dog shit over there finally gets himself killed off," he said, peering over her shoulder and raising his voice for Inuyasha's benefit.

"In your dreams, asshole!" Inuyasha mumbled from the ground behind her. 

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Osu-" 

"I'm not moving," Inuyasha muttered in obvious disgust.

Satisfied, she turned back to catch Kouga's eye and was surprised to find that he was already quite a distance away from her. 

"Good-bye for now, Kagome," he called back to her, raising a hand in farewell. "I'll be keeping an eye on things, don't you worry." In another instant, he was gone from site. Not long after that, the presence of his shards faded from her perception. 

Kagome breathed a quick sigh of relief. With Kouga gone, she could turn her attention back to more important matters. Turning around, she found Inuyasha sitting with his back to her, his arms tucked deep within the sleeves of his haori. Taking her time, she settled down behind him. 

"I suppose I should have just let you go with him," grumbled the back of Inuyasha's head, which was all she could see at the moment. "That would have showed me, right?"

"What are you griping about now?" she asked, plucking at the fabric of his sleeve. One of his ears began to flit and twitch nervously. He shifted around until he was partially facing her, but refused to look her in the eye, and chose instead to focus on some imaginary object, far off on the horizon.

"You're trying to get revenge on me, for Kikyou. That's what this was all about, wasn't it?" he demanded.

Kagome laughed wryly. "Don't be ridiculous! You know how he is. I had nothing to do with this!" 

"Yeah?" Inuyasha snorted in disbelief. "Then why'd you kiss him?"

"It was on the cheek!" Kagome cried defensively. "It was a friendly kiss! I can't believe you're getting upset about this, you're sulking over nothing!"

"_I_ can't believe you kissed him!" he retorted. "And I _ain't_ sulking."

"On the cheek!" she hollered, hands flailing in exasperation.

"I know!"

"Why are you making this into such a big deal? You know I don't have any feelings for Kouga! It was a friendly kiss!"

"Don't you get it?" he cried, scowling fiercely at her. "Don't you get why he's always coming after you, calling you his woman and all that other shit?"

Kagome shrugged. "I know he's a little persistent, but I think with time-"

"No! Not 'with time,'" he argued. "It's _you, _Kagome. You keep encouraging it!"

"I do no such thing!" she retorted, frowning at him.

"No?!" Inuyasha barked scornfully. "You're nice to him even though he's my enemy, you sit me every time I try to kill him or chase him off - _right in front of him!_ - you don't immediately reject his flattery _or _his claim to you, and to top it all off, _I just watched you kiss him_!"

Kagome huffed in aggravation, then paused, and seemed to rethink her position. "Maybe," she said candidly. "But I just told him that I love you." 

It was one of the few times in his life that Inuyasha was rendered speechless. Kagome took full advantage of the silence.

"And now he's gone. And I'm happy. Because not only is he gone, and you're here, but something very good happened to me today. Something I desperately needed to happen." 

Inuyasha was silent, still staring at her with large, mystified eyes. 

"Well, go on!" she pressed him. "Ask me what happened!"

Inuyasha swallowed nervously. His mouth felt dry. "What happened?"

"Right before Kouga-ku…_Kouga_ showed up," she amended. It wouldn't hurt to grease the wheels. "Inuyasha, I sensed his shards!"

"Yeah?" Inuyasha's mouth twitched at one corner, lifting it into a lopsided grin. Kagome placed her fingers beneath his chin, tilting it slightly upward. Slowly, she closed the distance between them, licking her lips as their mouths drew closer. The kiss was loose and moist, relaxed, yet inviting. She drew his lower lip into her mouth, pulling on it with a gentle suction. She released it a moment after breaking the kiss, then leaned back, smiling at him almost drunkenly. The flush of his countenance and his ragged breathing made the skin on her shoulders pucker into tiny mounds of gooseflesh. It was no accident that the soft, round swell of her breasts had come to rest conveniently at his eye level. 

"Yes," she cooed airily, her own color rising as her pulse began to quicken. "I am _not_ utterly useless. And that makes me feel like celebrating. And I was hoping you'd celebrate with me."

"Kagome," he said in a rough whisper, his hand running beneath the dark strands of her hair to find a resting place at the back of her neck, "I'm very, _very_ happy for you." 

~~~~~~~~~

With slow, deliberate steps, Kaede made her way back to the sunlit meadow to collect Kagome and, together, head back to the village. She couldn't imagine that Inuyasha would be kept occupied for very much longer, so it was best that they get started. 

As she approached the meadow from the far side of the tree where she'd left the girl, she noticed something red lying in the grass. For an instant, she feared that Kagome had come to some harm, but when she moved closer, her perspective changed. Bending down, she plucked at a corner of the garment and lifted it a few inches, rubbing the fabric between her fingers and thumb. 

It was not anything of Kagome's, but Inuyasha's haori, tossed carelessly aside. The elderly miko was understandably puzzled, until an instant later, when she heard soft, feminine laughter from behind the thick trunk of the tree, followed by a deep, rumbling growl. Kaede's mouth stretched into a thin, almost unnoticeable grin and she shook her head. Righting herself, she turned away from the meadow and walked back alone.

__


	15. Chapter 15

__

Author's note: I realize that six months is a long time, guys, and I apologize for that. But see? I told you I wasn't ditching the story altogether. Anyway, some serious thanks are in order here; Thank you Niamh, for the awesome beta, for 'holding your tongue' wink wink and for constantly riding my tail ("So Nanda, how's the next chapter of _Expectation_ coming along?"). Thank you Rhoda, Thank you Sakusha, and Thank you Squeakyinuears for stepping up to the beta plate for this chapter (Squeaky, your wonderfully nit-picky beta would have made Ithilwen proud). I couldn't have done it without you guys, and you don't even know how serious I am when I say that. Finally, I want to thank all my readers for waiting so patiently while I got my act together. (Boy, I sure hope some of you are still reading this thing. How embarrassing would that be!) Now, without further ado, (because this has gone on far too long already) Chapter 15:

"Why no one will help me, I'm too dumb, I'm too smart, they'll not understand me, I'm lonely, they'll hate me, there is not enough time, it's too hard to help me, God wants me to work, no resting no lazy…

I'm too far from home, it takes far too much energy, I cannot afford to, no one will ever see me…

No one can have it all, see I have to, they want me to, and I can't let them down, I will never be happy."

These excuses, how they've served me so well;

they've kept me safe, they've kept me stuck,

they've kept me locked in my own cell.

These excuses, how they're so familiar;

they've kept me blocked, they've kept me small,

they've kept me safe inside my shell."

- _Excuses_, Alanis Morissette

Part 15

From her secreted position behind a thick copse of trees, Kagura watched the wolf prince speed off until he was no more than a dingy speck in the distance. She'd hidden herself rather poorly, still reveling as she was in her newly discovered secret, but he'd been in such a state that he hadn't even noticed her scent as he raced past. She, however, had become all too familiar with his as of late. That supreme bastard Naraku had sent her to track the wolf's movements awhile back, and in that time she'd learned little, aside from the fact that a wolf youkai pack comprised solely of males seldom bathe and have atrocious eating habits. But what she'd seen today made up for weeks of inhaling the noxious smell of their kills gone fetid in the midday sun and the sour stench of wolf sweat.

At first, the wolf's reunion with Inuyasha's miko had done little to pique her interest. She was all too aware of his 'great plans' for the girl; one didn't even have to be a particularly diligent spy in order to pick up on that. So she'd stayed out of the way, hanging back in the forest, out of range. Though an encounter with both the hanyou and the wolf might have done something to alleviate her oppressive boredom, she was hesitant to start a fight. She was not a fool; her life had become a precious commodity as of late, not something to be risked so carelessly. Then there was the very real fact that her opponents would serve her better in the future if they remained alive. For the time being, anyway, until Naraku could be disposed of. No easy feat, she knew, and one she would never be able to manage on her own. But if Inuyasha and his miko kept building upon their combined power, or if she could somehow manage to sway that stoic monolith of a youkai lord…

She'd sighed then, only half paying attention to the wolf and the mutt's tiresome posturing, tapping the black lacquered tip of her fan against her painted lips.

Sesshoumaru. What she needed with that one was leverage, bartering power. He hadn't shown any interest in the Shikon no tama, and she knew he wouldn't want the Tetsusaiga simply handed to him - not that she thought she could get it, at least not without severe risk to herself. He'd be insulted, and she didn't want his anger or contempt - not directed at her, anyway. No, what she needed was Sesshoumaru's power on her side. But how to ingratiate herself to him? That was the problem…

It had been just as she was thinking along these lines that she noticed what was _really_ going on in the meadow. A smile spread widely across her face, and she'd had to bite down hard on her bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud and alerting them of her presence. It was too good to interrupt.

_'No wonder the monk looked ready to piss himself.'_

Now, as the artificial wind created in Kouga's wake died down and the forest resettled itself, she found herself faced with an intriguing new dilemma. What to do with this newfound information?

_'What to do, what to do?'_

The obvious first choice was to go immediately to Naraku. This was exactly the sort of thing he'd want to be made aware of. But then, that didn't serve _her _purposes, and it would certainly mean doing more of his dirty work.

No. While keeping this information from Naraku was potentially dangerous, she could always deny later that she'd ever known. He'd sent her to track the wolf, after all, not the mutt. And besides, what she had in mind could prove far more entertaining. Entertaining, and possibly beneficial.

"Ho-hum," she sighed, plucking a feather from the ornament that held back her hair. "Things have been so horribly dull lately. Time to stir the pot."

Miles away, and fortuitously oblivious, a pair of wolf youkai sat next to each other in the low grass, sunning themselves in the remains of the previous night's camp. Hakkaku, the younger of the two, hugged his knees and looked on solemnly as his friend stretched out, lowering himself onto his back with his hands behind his head. The favorable weather they'd been having all day - sunny, yet cool - should have acted as a soothing balm on his frayed nerves, but bad dreams and troubled thoughts had been plaguing him for quite some time now, and all the sunshine in the world couldn't mollify him. His paranoia ran deeper than usual lately, and for weeks he'd had the distinct, uncanny feeling that their small band was being stalked. Even now, in broad daylight, he couldn't seem to shake it. To make matters worse, Kouga had left them to themselves again, alone and unguarded. He and Ginta were no infant cubs, of course not, but there was no denying where the strength of their small pack did truly lie.

Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was the nightmares. Or maybe it was just the damned uncertainty of it all. Either way, he was tired of living inside his head. Sighing heavily, he reached down and nudged his companion's shoulder, rousing him.

"Hey, Ginta?" he called softly.

A grimace passed over the napping youkai's face, but after a moment he sighed through his nose and replied, "Yeah?"

"I was just thinking…" Hakkaku began slowly, choosing his words with care. "Do you ever…wonder what we're going to do?"

"Do?" Ginta echoed lazily, cracking open one eye.

"You know," Hakkaku continued, "afterward. When this is all over."

"Hmm?" Ginta sighed distractedly, scratching at an old fleabite on his neck. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when we stop…_running _all the time." He muttered the word with a small measure of disgust, his nose wrinkling up. "I mean, if Kouga does finally manage to kill that Naraku guy and we don't all wind up dead. What'll we do then?"

Ginta shrugged. "I guess we'll go home."

"And…?" Hakkaku stared back at him intently, almost imploringly.

Ginta shrugged again. "And do what we did before all this shit happened."

"Maybe," Hakkaku said doubtfully, looking back down at his knees. "But we've been away for so long. Even if we do head back, so many of the original pack are gone now. Sure, the cave'll still be there, but without the pack, there's no real _home_ to go back to. There just doesn't seem to be a point anymore."

Ginta turned his head slightly, raising an eyebrow at his friend. "I can't believe this is coming from you. Aren't you the one who's always moaning about wanting to go home?"

"Yeah," the younger wolf said glumly, "But I've been really thinking lately…"

Ginta put a finger to the tip of his nose and smirked. "_That's_ your problem. You're thinking too much."

"But Ginta-" his friend protested.

"Look, I don't know," Ginta huffed, closing his eyes again and turning his face back up to the sun. "I guess we could always head up north first and try to convince a few of the elder's females to come back with us. Then we can go home and get started on making a new pack." He chuckled, smiling at the thought, and Hakkaku sighed, rolling his eyes.

"What's your problem now?" Ginta asked, rapidly becoming annoyed. "It doesn't sound too bad to me."

The younger wolf opened his mouth and was about to protest again, when a harsh whistling sound suddenly filled the air and an off-kilter cyclone tore through the center of their makeshift camp. Hakkaku closed his mouth immediately, but not soon enough to keep from getting a mouthful of dust.

"Kouga!" Ginta cried for the both of them when the wind died down to reveal their leader, his hands planted firmly on his hips, looking irate and impatient.

"'Ow ith Kagome-oneethaa?" Hakkaku asked unhappily, scraping dirt off of his tongue with his teeth, then spitting repeatedly in the grass.

"What?" Kouga barked irritably, with a violent flick of his tail. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"K-Kagome-oneesan," Ginta provided after a moment's hesitation, "How did it go? Was everything alright?" An instant later he regretted having said it. It should have been obvious by Kouga's complete change in demeanor upon arrival that things had _not_ gone well, and were _far_ from all right. The mangy pair felt themselves shrinking beneath Kouga's icy glare.

After a long, uncomfortable silence, Kouga crossed his arms over his chest and ground out, "Fine."

"It…did?" Hakkaku asked in a small voice, unable to mask his skepticism.

"Of course!" Kouga growled, his eyes darkening. "Everything went according to plan."

"Oh." Hakkaku responded lamely, cringing slightly.

"Then…where is she?" Ginta asked, curiosity winning over his better judgment. It was just too strange. Their leader certainly wasn't acting like someone who had gotten his own way.

Kouga shrugged as if it didn't matter in the slightest. "Who cares? Probably with Inukkoro."

Ginta frowned. "But Kouga, I thought you said before you left that you were going to bring her back with you this time, for good."

The wolf prince's eyes flashed dangerously, and he bared his fangs in an indignant snarl. "Are you crazy? Why would I want to drag a woman along with us? You two are slow enough as it is without having to worry about some stupid girl! We'd never get close enough to Naraku with her holding us back, and even if we did, she'd be a constant worry, when I'm supposed to be concentrating on the enemy! How are we supposed to get revenge for our fallen brothers if we're burdened like that? Why don't you two half-wits put your brains together once and awhile and think, huh?"

The pair flinched, unsure as to whether they should be more frightened of Kouga's anger, or concerned for his mental well-being.

"But Kouga…" Hakkaku protested unhappily, his eyes widening in solemn disbelief.

Kouga continued as if he hadn't heard, his voice becoming quieter and more deliberate as he spoke. "So when I found her, I told her how things were going to be from now on. I told her she shouldn't keep waiting for me, that I couldn't afford to be distracted by her any longer. She didn't take it very well - called me all kinds of names," he added as an afterthought, "but I told her it didn't matter what she said to me, I'd already made up my mind. That was that."

There was another long silence, although this time the wolf youkai found themselves holding their tongues out of shock and disbelief, than for fear of Kouga's wrath. It was Ginta who spoke finally, and only because of the two of them, he was the one who was still trying to believe a word of it.

"So you just…left her?" he said, eyebrows furrowed together as he struggled to understand. "You said you'd die before you'd allow Inuyasha-"

"Feh!" Kouga barked sardonically, cutting him off. "Inukkoro can have her. Let her slow him down! All it means is that we'll get to Naraku first. It's something I should have done a long time ago. It's much better this way." His voice never wavered, but Ginta could see that Kouga's left eye was twitching. Hakkaku didn't see this; he'd turned away awhile ago. It didn't matter why or how. Regardless of whatever happened next or how this all ended, their chief had lost.

__

'Oh Kouga…'

"Well? Why are we just standing here wasting time?" Kouga demanded, once again smiling like the triumphant rogue he was meant to be. "Let's move!" Before the others could utter a sound of agreement or protest, he was off, leaving them in the wake of his dust.

"Wait! Kouga!" Ginta groaned in protest, reluctantly plodding after the wolf prince. Hakkaku turned to take one last look behind him at the camp, as though he were trying to call out the presence he'd been feeling on the back of his neck for weeks. He paused for only a moment, then shook his head and turned to chase after the others.

Hours had passed since the departure of the wolf prince, but the pregnant miko and her hanyou had remained beneath the tree where they'd spent the remains of the morning idly making love, lying pooled in the randomly strewn jumble of their clothing. When a soft, cool breeze caressed Kagome's bare shoulder, causing her skin to shrivel and tighten into tiny mounds of gooseflesh, she pulled her mate closer, drawing warmth from his body. The subtle chill, becoming more and more frequent with each passing day, was troubling her. For the first time in her life, Kagome was not looking forward to the harvest season. When autumn fully arrived, winter would be lurking right around the corner. It would be her first winter away from her family, away from her home. And in the Sengoku Jidai, winter never arrived alone. It flew in abruptly, whether you were prepared for its arrival or not, and following closely at its heels was death. Were that not enough cause for worry, Kagome had one more; her baby was due to arrive right on the cusp of that unforgiving season.

Next to her, Inuyasha was laying on his side, his head propped up on his elbow and his other hand splayed flat across her ample belly, feeling the taunt skin beneath his palm spasm and roll as the baby shifted into an entirely new position. This was already the third time that afternoon.

"Ka-go-me," Inuyasha whispered, his thumb brushing gently back and forth across the surface of her skin as he watched it tremble and flux. Then when a small lump - what appeared to be either a knee or an elbow - protruded from her abdomen and traveled several inches before receding back in again, eliciting a small gasp from his mate, he asked, "Does it ever hurt?"

Kagome let her breath out slowly, then nodded. "Sometimes…" She reached over to fix a loose strand of his hair, and soon found herself twining the long ends near the bottom around her fingertips. "But it's not _so_ bad," she added a few moments later. "Why are you asking?"

Inuyasha shrugged, then lowered his head to rest it against her swollen breast. Both were tender and a bit sore, so it wasn't the most comfortable position she could have asked for, but she was grateful for the contact and this show of intimacy from him. Rather than discourage him, she shifted slightly and kept it to herself.

When they were both settled, he answered. "I just thought it might hurt, that's all. I don't like it when you get hurt."

"Don't worry," she said, laying a hand over his, the one still resting on the baby.

"Can't help it," he replied, accepting her fingers, his calloused thumb moving up from the skin of her belly to rub slowly and rhythmically against the side of her hand. "Whenever Kaede goes out to whelp one of those things, she's always gone for a really long time. And she always comes back smelling like…blood," he finished, almost swallowing the last word.

__

'And sometimes she comes back smelling like death and dirt, Kagome - like freshly dug graves.'

"Well, I'm not going to lie to you," she sighed, squeezing his hand. "There does tend to be a lot of blood; but from what I gather, that's normal. It's also not unusual for a birth to take a really long time. My Mom said that she was in labor with me for over thirty-six hours! Can you believe it?" She received nothing but dead silence from Inuyasha in response to this, so she hurried on before things started to feel awkward. "Souta's birth took a lot less time, though. She told me that she almost had him in the cab on the way to hospital! My poor dad nearly passed out! They say it's like that, that it's a lot easier the second time around, and it just keeps getting easier every time afterward. I guess after the first time, your body just knows what to do. That's lucky, isn't it?" She paused again, looking down at the top of his head expectantly as she waited for some sign that he hadn't simply fallen asleep on her.

"Inuyasha? Are you listening to me?" She received a noncommittal grunt and a slight sideways movement of his head, which was neither a nod, nor a shake. "I was saying that it's lucky giving birth seems to get easier each time you do it." When this again failed to illicit a response, she tried expounding. "But then, I guess if it didn't, most women would stop after one, wouldn't they? I mean, not that I know…yet, but it seems that that would be the case, so they must be telling the truth. So this one may take a real long time, but the next-"

Kagome stopped abruptly, her mouth snapping closed. She turned her eyes down to the hanyou, who had finally lifted his head in response to _that_ and was now looking back at her with a nearly blank expression. Very nearly; subtle traces of something cold and hard had settled in his eyes, and there was an undeniable stiffness lingering at his jaw.

"I-I mean…" she stammered, drowning in her mortification.

There was a long, pregnant pause, and then Inuyasha said flatly, "I don't want any more pups, Kagome."

"Oh!" Kagome's face turned red, and she quickly looked away, frenzied excuses flying from her lips. "Of course not. I didn't mean… Of course not!" she cried, shaking her head violently. "I…I wasn't thinking, it just slipped out." The situation was rapidly becoming unbearable. For the sake of her dignity, she had to end this. Shifting away from him, she reached over and began to grab frantically at her clothing. As her fumbling fingers latched onto her hakama, his hand reached across her body and caught them, bringing her to a gentle stop.

"Don't."

The length of his naked body was pressed against her back, his head resting at her shoulder. "Don't overreact," he huffed softly, his mouth by her ear. "It's not like that. It's not _this_. It's not _you_. _You're_ fine. I couldn't ask for better." He sighed then, releasing her hand. "Which is the reason why there won't be any more after this."

Kagome's skin felt tight and unpleasant. She was beginning to feel sick. Inuyasha placed his hand on her trembling shoulder and gently pushed her down onto her back.

_'Please, not this again…' _he begged silently. He wasn't ready for another emotional bloodletting. There already had been far too many; far too many screams, far too many threats of leaving, and far too many frantic reassurances.

"Look at me," he said firmly when she refused to meet his eyes. Kagome blinked a few times, then reluctantly lifted her gaze.

"Inuya-" she began, but he shook his head, cutting her off.

"Just listen for once, don't argue. We can argue later, if you want; but right now, just listen." He sighed, looking up toward his hairline for an instant as though the words he needed next could be found there. Kagome lay still, hardly breathing, waiting.

"Having pups is dangerous, Kagome," he said finally, "Hanyou pups especially. Humans weren't meant to have 'em. You're not built for it. And even when things go well, there's always afterward. Being the mother of a whelp with mixed blood won't offer you any kind of safety."

"I already know this," she muttered, her voice thick and unconvincing.

Inuyasha sighed through his nose. When he spoke next, he went slowly, emphasizing each word carefully. "I don't want you to die. If anything happened to you..." he trailed off, not wanting to think it, let alone give breath to it. Starting again, he tried approaching his thoughts from another angle. "When my mother died… There wasn't anyone. Not _anyone_, Kagome, and I don't think I have words to tell you what that was like. And the more I think about you carrying this pup, the more I can't help but think of my mother, and what would happen if…" he stopped, finding himself right back where he hadn't wanted to go, but it didn't seem to matter any longer, because when he looked back at Kagome she didn't seem to be listening. It was at that moment that he noticed her tears.

"Don't cry!" he yelped defensively. "Don't you understand what I'm trying to say here? This isn't something to cry about!"

"No, no," Kagome moaned, waving her hand at him dismissively. With some difficulty she managed to sit up, then rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her hand. "I do understand, it's not… It's not that." She sighed wetly, sniffling a bit while trying to figure out a discreet way to wipe her nose. That was the trouble with this era - no facial tissues.

"It's _not_ that," she repeated definitively, once she was able to calm herself a bit. "It's just all this talk about mothers was really beginning to get to me. It's been such a long time since I saw my mother last. I miss her. And Jii-chan, and Souta. All this time they must have been wondering where I am and why I haven't come back. All this time and never knowing… They must think I'm dead," she breathed, clutching the fabric of her hakama to her chest as though it were a talisman. "I just…_miss_ them." Kagome could barely hold back the wave of grief and loneliness that wanted to pour out of her. She had to bite down on her bottom lip to keep it from spilling out. As it was, her chest was heaving violently with every breath she took.

Inuyasha watched her body silently convulse under the weight of her sorrow with a familiar mixture of sadness and guilt. This was as much his doing as it was hers, but for some reason, she had chosen to put the blame entirely on herself when it came to her family.

"You know, you could always go back," he said reluctantly. The fact that he didn't want her to was left unspoken, but he knew that she understood this already. Hell, even before the pup he'd never been comfortable when she left for home. At this point, it went without saying.

"Please, Inuyasha, we've been through this before."

"Well, yeah, but only when we've been in the middle of a fight!" he grumbled defensively. "I'm serious. They're your family. I don't think things would be as bad as you seem to think they'd be."

Kagome sighed morosely, staring helplessly at the crimson fabric puddled in her lap. "I'm afraid to take that chance. I think I'd rather die than see their disappointment, or worse their _shame_. I couldn't bear for them to look at me that way."

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. "Is it better for them to think you're dead?" he asked dubiously.

Kagome shook her head slowly, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. Tears were returning to her red-rimmed eyes, but by now she was too far gone to try fighting them, and let them run unchecked down her face. "I don't know," she whispered, her voice sounding high and tight, as though it was barely managing to escape from her throat. "Sometimes I feel like I'm being terribly selfish, hiding away from them. Letting them suffer, thinking that maybe something terrible has happened to me, but never really knowing one way or the other. All the pain I'm causing them, because I'm afraid of what they'll say. And then other times," she continued, sniffling miserably, "I feel that giving in and seeing them again would be the _really_ selfish thing to do. Humiliating them just because I'm feeling homesick. I don't know." She lifted her watery eyes to his, her lips trembling. "Maybe it's better if they think I'm dead. At least there's no shame in that." She stopped then and began to mop at herself with the soft edge of her hakama; her tears had started dripping from her chin onto the bare skin of her chest, and she hadn't liked the clammy feel of them on falling on places where they didn't belong.

After a long pause during which neither of them looked at each other, but stared down at their knees, Inuyasha said carefully, "If it were my kid, I'd rather have them alive. That other shit doesn't matter." Kagome jerked at the sound of his voice, her face locked in a blank, unreadable expression. Inuyasha coughed nervously, his shoulders rising the slightest bit, then falling again in a feeble shrug. "If you listen to Sesshoumaru, I put a dark mark on my family by being born. There wasn't anything I could do about it, 'cept maybe throw myself in the river and end their shame. He probably would have liked that," he muttered darkly. "But when you get right down to it, does it really fucking matter what he thinks? What other people thought? My mother loved me, and my father obviously thought I'd amount to something. They didn't give a shit about other people. I wasn't an embarrassment to them, and really, they were the only ones who mattered. My guess is it would be the same with your family. But then, you're never gonna find out hiding on this side."

Kagome frowned slightly, her eyebrows drawing together, and shook her head slowly. "I'm not ready for that. Not yet. Just the thought of it makes me feel nauseous."

"Well don't go making yourself sick. No one's gonna force you," he sighed, reaching down to pull the hakama from her numb fingers. Kagome let it slide from her grasp, only to be replaced a moment later by her off-white undergarments.

"Start there," he instructed. Kagome nodded mutely, staring down past the garments in her hand at the round swell of her stomach.

"Come on, get dressed." Inuyasha prompted from behind and above, where he was already knotting his hakama tightly in place across his abdomen. She heard the tell-tale rustle of fabric as he slid into his haori; pulling it over his shoulders, then aligning its seams with those of his soft, white under kimono. "We should head back. I promised the old hag I'd split some rails for a new fence today. Knowing her, if I don't get there soon she'll try to do it herself and wind up hacking off half her foot."

Kagome pulled on her tabi socks and wobbled unsteadily to her feet, but said nothing as she pulled on her short robes.

"So we'd better hurry," he added a few moments later. She didn't respond, but took her time slipping on her over garments and tying them in place, one by one. Undeterred, he delivered the punch line anyway. "Because she's running shy on body parts as it is."

Kagome glowered, trying not to smirk, despite herself. "That isn't funny, Inuyasha."

"I coulda sworn you were happy about something today," he griped, tucking his arms in his sleeves as he leaned back against the tree, watching her dress.

"You know, you're right. I was," she said lightly, turning to look at him, a soft glint in her eyes. "It isn't everyday a girl gets a visit from an old admirer."

Inuyasha scowled darkly, his ears flattening against the top of his head. "That isn't funny."

Kagome just smiled.

There was no sound in the palace of the dead. No light either, save for a faint glow moving behind the shoji screens of the central hall where Naraku sat stewing in his own foul vapors. Though he couldn't sense any youki coming off the source of that glow, he wasn't concerned. His poisonous jaki had killed everything living; the only creatures that could thrive in the thick, murky atmosphere of this palace were those he need not fear.

He watched the light travel down the length of the hallway until it stopped just outside his door. As if acting by it's own will, the shoji screen scraped itself open, and then, silent as a corpse's laugh, Kanna entered the room, her feet gliding soundlessly across the wooden floorboards. She called his name softly, the empty, emotionless sound of her voice hanging in the air between them like a pale apparition from a child's nightmare. He beckoned to her, fingers curled, claw like, and she drifted closer, holding out the mirror for him to see. For an instant, Naraku saw his current face reflected in the mirror. The piercing black eyes, the sharp hollows of the cheek bones, the long, inky hair flowing in oily waves well past the shoulders, all stolen from the young lord of this once austere, now phantom palace, Kagewaki. Naraku had merely an instant to reflect on this before an unnatural light wiped him from the mirror's gleaming surface and replaced his image with that of one of his enemies. It was the leader of the wolves, Kouga, and not surprisingly, he was running somewhere.

"Why are you showing me this?" Naraku asked impatiently. The wolf was miles away and, due to the barrier, had no idea where the palace was hidden. But had he been in the next room, Naraku wouldn't have considered him much of a threat. Kagura had been shadowing him for weeks and he'd never noticed her once, never mind the saimyoushou following them both.

"Stop wasting my-" Naraku stopped, his irritation at having been needlessly disturbed abated. The image in the mirror had shifted away from the wolf, back to where he appeared to have been running from. It was a brightly lit meadow, on the edge of a forest, and where the grass met the trees, where the light of the meadow blended into the gloom of the forest, stood a familiar figure.

"Kagome," Kanna breathed. For indeed it was Kagome, standing at the edge of the meadow, watching Kouga leave. Only this Kagome was not the same strange, troublesome girl he had become accustomed to seeing by Inuyasha's side. This was not the same Kagome he had feared. This girl appeared different. This Kagome seemed awkward, clumsy. This Kagome's once powerful aura had weakened to little more than a dull glow radiating from her significantly altered body.

This Kagome was _very_ pregnant.

A razor-sharp smile spread across Naraku's stolen face, and a deep chuckle escaped from his parted lips.

_'Ah, Inuyasha. What a very foolish, very human thing to do.'_

He spared a glance up from the mirror to speak to Kanna. "Send word to Kagura that she needn't follow the wolf pack any longer. The saimyoushou have proven sufficient. Tell her that I have another task, one I'm certain she'll find more interesting than the last." He paused a moment in thought. The smile on his face grew horrible in his amusement. "Send Kohaku to deliver the message," Naraku purred. "He'll be accompanying her."

"Kagura is gone."

Naraku's smile faltered, his good humor souring in an instant against Kanna's softly spoken words. "Is that so?" he asked. "Where has she gone?"

"I don't know… She can't be seen."

"Keep looking. As soon as you find her, I want her sent here. Don't rouse Kohaku until she's returned."

"Yes."

A red haze was swirling in his head, lurking behind his eyes as it had before in the past. It was a disgusting feeling that he was far too familiar with, a mortal rage that he associated with the last vestiges of Onigumo.

"Leave me," he commanded sharply.

Kanna turned and left as silently and unceremoniously as she had arrived, like an abandoned skiff gliding into fog. Naraku was alone once more with his thoughts.

_'For the first time in months I've discovered something important that could mean the annihilation of my enemies, and where are you, Kagura? You who are meant to follow my will in all things? This impediment will not be tolerated.'_

Outside, a stiff wind shook the rotted trees surrounding the palace, snapping their dead branches like twigs. The slowly decaying wooden structure of the palace creaked and groaned in protest, but held. Naraku spared the ceiling a brief, disinterested glance, thinking instead how he would like to hear his willful detachment groan like those wooden beams, her spine snap like a dead branch. Her body rot like every other willful thing in this accursed palace.

__

'You've been warned once, Kagura, and once is more than you deserve. You won't get another.' 

The darker hours of twilight had crept up slowly, as though the summer sunshine knew that its days were numbered, and was trying to make the most of its remaining time by refusing to set. By the time the first few eager stars had popped out into the dark blue sky, Rin was already rubbing droopy-lidded eyes. If the lord of the western lands had noticed this, he gave no indication, but his retainer was planning to speak up soon if the girl didn't cease her whining. As though prompted by Jaken's reluctance to do so, the girl reached forward and latched onto the long end of his sleeve and gave it a slight tug.

"Jaken-samaaaaaa…"

"Alright," he muttered. "I'll ask him." He coughed into one leathery fist, clearing his throat, then raised his voice and called out shrilly, "Er, excuse me, Sesshoumaru-sama, but don't you think it's time to stop for the-" Jaken 's voice died in his throat as Sesshoumaru stopped abruptly. He watched curiously as the youkai lord stood completely still, his eyes narrowed as though he were expecting something unpleasant to happen at any moment.

"What is it, Sesshoumaru-sama?" the girl asked, her exhaustion momentarily forgotten as she stared wide-eyed at the youkai lord.

"Quiet, fool," Jaken whispered scoldingly. "Can't you see he's trying to concentrate?"

"Ooooh," Rin cooed, sounding impressed.

However, as the seconds ticked by with no word or movement from his master, Jaken soon found himself asking plaintively, "Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Sesshoumaru cast as irritated sideways glance at the toad youkai, but remained silent, nose held steadily to the night air. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a burst of violent wind ripped through them. Jaken was blown off his feet, tumbling backward into Rin who caught and steadied him. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the wind came to an immediate stop. There, standing in front of them on a spot of grass where nothing had been a moment before was the woman who smelled of that loathsome creature. A detachment of that traitorous vermin Naraku, Kagura, the wind witch.

"You!" Jaken sputtered angrily, grasping the staff of heads tightly in both hands as he jumped to his feet. His hat had become cocked to one side during his tumble and behind him Rin was straightening it. "You dare show your face to Sesshoumaru-sama again? Is there no limit to your brazenness?" he squeaked indignantly, waving his staff threateningly at the wind youkai. "Why of all the-"

"Jaken," Sesshoumaru said brusquely, his meaning unmistakable. Jaken immediately fell silent, but continued to glower all the same.

"Hello, Sesshoumaru," Kagura said silkily. She crossed her arms delicately over her chest, tapping her closed fan playfully against her shoulder. "You're looking as impassive as ever."

Sesshoumaru uttered a short sound of contempt. "What do you want this time? I've already told you that I have no intention of helping you."

Kagura frowned slightly, the tip of her fan dipping a fraction as she clenched it in her fist. "Is that what passes for a greeting these days? There's no need for such hostility, Sesshoumaru. I've merely come to congratulate you."

Rin's eyes widened at the wind user's words and she bent down to whisper in Jaken's ear, "What does she mean?"

"How should I know, girl?" Jaken hissed back, "Hush up and listen!"

Sesshoumaru's eyebrows rose only slightly at the wind witch's faintly bemusing statement. "I see…and I suppose I am meant to ask the reason." This was not a question.

Kagura smirked, certain that despite this cool façade, she'd managed to pique his interest. "You mean you haven't heard?" she asked coyly, her smile widening to reveal teeth. Her eyes had taken on a hungry gleam in the light of the rising moon. She tapped her fan gently on the side of her face and sighed, "Pity."

Sesshoumaru must have been aware of her amusement, because his eyebrows lowered again and the disinterested expression that he'd been wearing before darkened considerably. "I'm tiring of this game. You've come this far, either say what you've come to or leave. It makes little difference to me."

Kagura seemed further amused by this. "Oh?" she asked, lifting a sardonic eyebrow, "I'd have thought you'd find this _very_ interesting. But then," she continued, shooting him a meaningful glance, "if your own brother didn't think it important enough to tell you himself, then perhaps I've been wrong."

"Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru said flatly, grimacing slightly, as though the very word itself was unpalatable.

"Of course," Kagura said with a grin. "You really haven't heard the good news? Very well, then. I suppose I'll have to be the one to tell you." Sesshoumaru said nothing in response to her posturing, but his silence was as good as his consent as far as she was concerned. Pausing for dramatic effect, she smiled at the youkai lord and said with poorly feigned sincerity, "Congratulations, Sesshoumaru. You're about to become an uncle."


End file.
